I've been trying to figure out the reason behind the madness that is the internal ordering system of Wizards of the Coast rulebooks (for ordering my own collection appropriately)

Sadly, as it turns out, Wizards of the Coast have three different numbering systems, which doesn't immediately seem to be compatible, namely, there's the 5-digit numbers with a TSR or WTC prefix (eg. Players Handbook TSR11550 and Psionics Handbook WTC11835), then there's the 9-digit numbers starting with a 1 (eg. Player's Handbook v3.5 1775240000) and then there's the 9-digit numbers starting with 8 or 9 (eg. Book of Vile Darkness 881610000 and Races of the Dragon 953697200)

So my question is: How do I organize these products the way Wizards intended them to be based on their internal numbering system??

I've been trying to figure out the reason behind the madness that is the internal ordering system of Wizards of the Coast rulebooks (for ordering my own collection appropriately)

Sadly, as it turns out, Wizards of the Coast have three different numbering systems, which doesn't immediately seem to be compatible, namely, there's the 5-digit numbers with a TSR or WTC prefix (eg. Players Handbook TSR11550 and Psionics Handbook WTC11835), then there's the 9-digit numbers starting with a 1 (eg. Player's Handbook v3.5 1775240000) and then there's the 9-digit numbers starting with 8 or 9 (eg. Book of Vile Darkness 881610000 and Races of the Dragon 953697200)

So my question is: Does WotC's product numbering mean anything? Can I organize my collection of d20 books according to it?

I've been trying to figure out the reason behind the madness that is the internal ordering system of Wizards of the Coast rulebooks (for ordering my own collection appropriately)

Sadly, as it turns out, Wizards of the Coast have three different numbering systems, which doesn't immediately seem to be compatible, namely, there's the 5-digit numbers with a TSR or WTC prefix (eg. Players Handbook TSR11550 and Psionics Handbook WTC11835), then there's the 9-digit numbers starting with a 1 (eg. Player's Handbook v3.5 1775240000) and then there's the 9-digit numbers starting with 8 or 9 (eg. Book of Vile Darkness 881610000 and Races of the Dragon 953697200)

So my question is: How do I organize these products the way Wizards meant them to be ordered?

I've been trying to figure out the reason behind the madness that is the internal ordering system of Wizards of the Coast rulebooks (for ordering my own collection appropriately)

Sadly, as it turns out, Wizards of the Coast have three different numbering systems, which doesn't immediately seem to be compatible, namely, there's the 5-digit numbers with a TSR or WTC prefix (eg. Players Handbook TSR11550 and Psionics Handbook WTC11835), then there's the 9-digit numbers starting with a 1 (eg. Player's Handbook v3.5 1775240000) and then there's the 9-digit numbers starting with 8 or 9 (eg. Book of Vile Darkness 881610000 and Races of the Dragon 953697200)

So my question is: How do I organize these products the way Wizards intended them to be based on their internal numbering system??

I've tried to figure out an efficient, logical and pretty way of organizing my RPG book collection for a while, and while most systems are somewhat obvious:

System

• Edition
  • Publisher
    • Core books
    • Accessories
    • Source Books
    • Adventures
  • Alternate Campaign Setting
    • Core books
    • Accessories
    • Source Books
    • Adventures

Or simply by the numbers on the spine of the books. This system however have given me trouble when trying to place D&D 3E/3.5 books in the correct order. My first inclination was to try to figure out a way to organize the books by the companys internal numbering system. Sadly, as it turns out, Wizards of the Coast have three different numbering systems, which doesn't immediately seem to be compatible, namely, there's the 5-digit numbers with a TSR or WTC prefix (eg. Players Handbook TSR11550 and Psionics Handbook WTC11835), then there's the 9-digit numbers starting with a 1 (eg. Player's Handbook v3.5 1775240000) and then there's the 9-digit numbers starting with 8 or 9 (eg. Book of Vile Darkness 881610000 and Races of the Dragon 953697200)

So my first question is: Is there a method to this madness? And would it be possible to adapt this into a meaningful way to Organize the books?

Secondly, if these systems are as hopeless as I think they are, my question is this: What is the most meaningful way to organize the D&D 3E system? Keep in mind that D&D 3E included several publishers (I have several of the "Slayer's Guide to" books from Mongoose Publishing as well as the WotC Dragonlance Campaign Setting and the later Sovereign Press Dragonlance books.) and perhaps even related systems (D&D, AD&D, D&D 4E, D20 Modern, Call of Cthulhu D20, BESM D20)

So what do you suggest?

(tl;dr: Find me a way to organize my RPG rulebook collection)

I've been trying to figure out the reason behind the madness that is the internal ordering system of Wizards of the Coast rulebooks (for ordering my own collection appropriately)

Sadly, as it turns out, Wizards of the Coast have three different numbering systems, which doesn't immediately seem to be compatible, namely, there's the 5-digit numbers with a TSR or WTC prefix (eg. Players Handbook TSR11550 and Psionics Handbook WTC11835), then there's the 9-digit numbers starting with a 1 (eg. Player's Handbook v3.5 1775240000) and then there's the 9-digit numbers starting with 8 or 9 (eg. Book of Vile Darkness 881610000 and Races of the Dragon 953697200)

So my question is: How do I organize these products the way Wizards meant them to be ordered?