The standard MLA format for a book assumes the existence of a publisher. According to the fifth edition of "Research and Documentation Online," MLA requires the author's last name, author's first name, book title, city of publication, publisher name and year of publication. The book title should be underlined or changed to italics. This information is all followed by the word "print." The standard format requires no indentation in the first line and a five-space standard tab indentation for all subsequent lines.
If a book lacks a publisher, MLA format requires the use of the term "n.p." in place of the publisher within the citation. The term "n.p." stands for "no publisher." Since there is no publisher there is also no city of publication, so that component of the citation is omitted. The book will not have a year of publication and the citation should include "n.d." for "no date." Therefore, the book without a publisher would be cited using the author's last name, first name, book title, n.p., n.d. and the word "print."
Unpublished dissertations are sometimes selected as paper references and writers may be tempted to cite a dissertation as an unpublished book. However, MLA style treats dissertations differently despite their book-like appearance. The citation of a dissertation should include the author's last time, author's first name, the dissertation's title surrounded by quotation marks, the abbreviation "Diss," the author's institution, the year of the dissertation's acceptance and the medium.
While MLA style permits the use of books without publishers, their inclusion in an academic paper may not always be a good idea. Books without publishers may lack the involvement of an editor and contain grammatical or factual errors. As a result, Instructors may not consider unpublished books reputable sources. To be safe, discuss the inclusion of a book without a publisher with the course instructor or grader prior to writing the first draft.