The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 plus 4 letter word TELEPHONE BOOK
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
T
E
L
E
P
H
O
N
E
B
O
O
K
More clues leading to the result TELEPHONE BOOK
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Volume in numbers" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case volume in numbers = telephone book.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.