When adding empty books to the library also allow creating duplicates of the current book, with all metadata copied. To use right click the Add Books button and select 'Add Empty Books'. Fixes #1488398 [Enhancement: Create duplicate book record of existing one](https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/1488398)

src/calibre/gui2/actions/add.py

@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ class AddAction(InterfaceAction):
         Add an empty book item to the library. This does not import any formats
         from a book file.
         '''
-        author = series = None
+        author = series = title = None
         index = self.gui.library_view.currentIndex()
         if index.isValid():
             raw = index.model().db.authors(index.row())
@@ -247,8 +247,9 @@ class AddAction(InterfaceAction):
                 if authors:
                     author = authors[0]
             series = index.model().db.series(index.row())
+            title = index.model().db.title(index.row())
         dlg = AddEmptyBookDialog(self.gui, self.gui.library_view.model().db,
-                                 author, series)
+                                 author, series, dup_title=title)
         if dlg.exec_() == dlg.Accepted:
             temp_files = []
             num = dlg.qty_to_add
@@ -256,7 +257,12 @@ class AddAction(InterfaceAction):
             title = dlg.selected_title or _('Unknown')
             db = self.gui.library_view.model().db
             ids = []
+            if dlg.duplicate_current_book:
+                origmi = db.get_metadata(index.row(), get_cover=True, cover_as_data=True)
             for x in xrange(num):
+                if dlg.duplicate_current_book:
+                    mi = origmi
+                else:
                     mi = MetaInformation(title, dlg.selected_authors)
                     if series:
                         mi.series = series

src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/add_empty_book.py

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ from calibre.gui2 import gprefs
 
 class AddEmptyBookDialog(QDialog):
 
-    def __init__(self, parent, db, author, series=None, title=None):
+    def __init__(self, parent, db, author, series=None, title=None, dup_title=None):
         QDialog.__init__(self, parent)
         self.db = db
 
@@ -99,7 +99,20 @@ class AddEmptyBookDialog(QDialog):
         button_box.accepted.connect(self.accept)
         button_box.rejected.connect(self.reject)
         self._layout.addWidget(button_box, 10, 0, 1, -1)
+        if dup_title:
+            self.dup_button = b = button_box.addButton(_('&Duplicate current book'), button_box.ActionRole)
+            b.clicked.connect(self.do_duplicate_book)
+            b.setIcon(QIcon(I('edit-copy.png')))
+            b.setToolTip(_(
+                'Make the new empty book records exact duplicates\n'
+                'of the current book "%s", with all metadata identical'
+            ) % dup_title)
         self.resize(self.sizeHint())
+        self.duplicate_current_book = False
+
+    def do_duplicate_book(self):
+        self.duplicate_current_book = True
+        self.accept()
 
     def accept(self):
         gprefs['create_empty_format_file'] = self.format_value.currentText().lower()