The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1863-12-11
Errors Of the Press.

and publishers than errors OF the press; anc
vet those who are unskillcd in the art Of
printing can scarcely conceive the difficulty
of avoiding them. The art of proot.read
ing with perfect accuracy is high and dit
fcult attainment. To arrive at ordinary &C
cuaracy in daily newspaper, requires TIT
reading and correction of ut least two proofs
and even then an editor, who has not become
case hardened by long practice and long en-
DURANGO, will often be shocked ut the trans
formation Of sense into nonsense. or th'
plucking of the point out of tho neates
paragraphs by typographical error.
Typographical errors happen in variety o
ways; sometimes by Ignorance aud stupidit,
OF the printer, and sometimes by design
Occurring in either way, they are often ludi
crous, and sometimes productive of positive
evil, A few examples Of each kind viii
suffice.
An edition Of the Bible was once published
in England, in which tho word not was omit
ted in the eleventh commandment. For thi,
offence, whether by carelcsSnes or design
the archbishop imposed tho heaviest penalty
known in history. The edition was required
to DO called in and destroyed, and fine i'm,
posed of 100000 sterling.
There was moro severe punishment than
even this awarded in Germany once, fol
wilrul alteration of the sacred text. II
seems that in Gen. iii. l6, the Hebrew word
which has been rendered husband in the
English translation, is lord in the German,
1t is the passage in which God tells Eye:-
"And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and
no shall rule over thco" The German WORD
signifying lord is Herr; and in tho same
language the word Narr answers for fool
The case was this: A new edition Of the
Bible was printing at the house of widow
whose husband had been printer. Thc
spirited lady, not liking tho subordinate sta
ton of her sex, and having acquired little
knowledge Of the art, watched an opportu
nifty by night to enter the Office; and while
the form was lying on the press, she careful
ly drew out the letters II aud c, aud insert
ing in their stead the letters Ma. The out
rage was not discovered in season, and tht
Bible went forth declaring that man SHOULD
be the woman's fool. Such, probably is to;
often the case, but the gentleman would moi
like to SEQ it in print. Grayely, however, th'
person committing such an offence mus
needs stand in awful apprehension of th'
fearful curse denounced in the conclusion o
the Apocalypse.
An edition of the Catholic Missnl wa'
once published in France, in which tho acc
dental substitution merely OF the II for a
was the cause of shocking blundcr, chang
ing, as it did, the word caiotte, ian ecclesias
tical cap or mitre) into euione which, as my
readers aro aware, means In drawng.roon
English, Il gentleman's small clothes. The
error occurred in one of the directions fol
conducting the service, where it is said
"Hcre the priest will take oil his culone"
Among tho errors that have occurred
through design, was ono which happened in
the old Hudson Balance, when the Rev. Dr.
Croswell was editor Of that ancient and ex'
cellent journal. A merchant by the name o
Peter Cole chanced to get married. Cole
however, was very unpopular, and was no,
one of the brightest intelligenccs even o
those days. The bride, too, was little more
no than yes, in her intellectual Punishment
Ii used to be common practice in the conn'
try, in sending marriages to the press, to tack
on bit of poetry in the shape Of some swee,
bymenial sentimentality. In compliance
with this custom, the groomsman added a
line or two from one of the poets, where the
bard speaks of the marriage state, "whcr
heart meets heart rcciprocally soft" The
wicked boys in tho printing office, however
corrected the poet, making the stauza read
thus:
"whcn head meets hesd reciprocally son.
Another instance moro udirous still, wa,
the following: \ lad in printing office
who knew moro about type setting than he
did of the Greek mythology, in looking owe,
poem they wcrc printing, came upon the
name of Heeatc, one of tn, lady divinitics o
tho lower world, occurring in line like this
"shall reign tho Hseats of the deepest hell.r
The boy thinking ho had discovered an
error, ran to the master printer, and enquir
ed eagerly whether there was an in cat
"Why, no, you blockhcad." was the reply
Away went the boy to tho press room, and
extracted the objectional letter. But fancy
tho horror of both poet aud publisher when
the poem appeared with the line:
"Shall reign the Ne cat OF the deepest hell"
But let form of types, arranged either
for book or newspaper, be ever 30 correc,
when sent TO press errors not unfrequcntly
happen from yet another cause, viz: liabili-
ty of now aud then letter to drop out,
when the form has not been properly adjust.
ed, or locked sufficiently tight in the iron
frame which by printers is called chase.
How important the loss of single letter
may become is seen by the following exam.
ple: A printer putting to press n form OF