I’m in proofreading mode at the moment as my first novel, The Madness of the Faithful (out July 28th), undergoes typesetting. Discovering that typos have made their way into the final print version would be my worst nightmare. But looking into it, this is something that does happen from time to time and there are some rather famous incidences of typos in initial editions of well-known books. Here’s a selection of some of the more interesting ones. By the way, if you happen to own one of the editions with a typo in it, the rarity often means it can be worth a bit, so make sure you keep it safe!
- An early edition of HP Lovecraft’s The Fiction, referred to ‘navel prisoners’ as opposed to ‘naval prisoners.’ I know his stories were out there, but I doubt anyone in his books was ever incarcerated in a belly button.
- In 2010’s, The Queen’s Governess, ‘wonton’ was accidentally used instead of ‘wanton’ – words with very different meanings – referring to Chinese cuisine instead of the intended reference to promiscuity!
- The first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was printed with an error on a page that lists what Harry needs for his new wizarding school. The list includes ‘1 wand’ twice. The typo was corrected in subsequent editions.
- James Joyce’s novel Finnegans Wake was dictated by the author. Apparently, during one of these sessions, someone came to the door and Joyce said, “Come in” – which was written down. Joyce subsequently liked it and kept in the novel.
- A 1934 edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary contained the word ‘dord’ as a synonym for density, instead of what was meant to be included, which was ‘D or d,’ meaning the abbreviation. This error stayed in the dictionary for 5 years until it was corrected.
- In the first edition of The Road by Cormac McCarthy (one of my favourite books) ‘bench’ is used instead of ‘beach.’ This was corrected in subsequent editions.
- The first three editions of The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck contained the word ‘flees’ instead of ‘fleas.’ Similar words with different meanings that seemingly flew under the radar of countless readers before it was picked up.
- In Moonraker by Ian Fleming, the first edition, published in 1955, misses a ‘t’ from the word ‘shoot.’ Did James Bond ‘shoo’ someone away instead of shooting them? Not really in character, is it?
- The original hardback edition of Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon contained many simple typos (e.g., ‘a’ instead of ‘at,’); there were so many in fact that fans believed they were included on purpose and represent a secret message!
- The final and perhaps most epic typo is from the 1631 edition of the King James Bible, in which the seventh commandment, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ instead reads as ‘Thou shalt commit adultery.’ This version is referred to as the Wicked Bible, and it is believed that only one version remains in existence today – the others being burnt at the time by order of the king.
