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Many countries do not yet have sufficient experience in the elaboration of textbooks and their generalized use at all levels of schooling. In such cases, a trial edition can avert serious drawbacks and waste of resources which would result from the mass production of school books which contain shortcomings which could be prejudicial to the quality of teaching. Such cases can occur in a country where there are no competent authors, or no teachers with sufficient experience in writing textbooks. For these reasons a trial edition should be tested, the main objective being to evaluate the effectiveness of the final, revised textbook in the teaching-learning process within a real school situation.

A trial edition can be produced with relatively limited resources, using, for instance, mimeographed reproduction or printing on small off-set presses. Illustrations playing an important role in the text should be reproduced, unless reproduction involves complicated techniques (such as the use of several colours). Reproduction in black and white can often suffice.

Copies may be limited to a few hundred.