The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-02-02
Typographical Errors

Typographical ExroFs.
Mr. ". Z. STONE, of New York, lately delivered
very interesting and valuable lecture in that city
upon the early History Of Newspapers in Anne
r1ca. In the course Of the lecture the fol-
lowing:
The New York Gazette was commenced by Way-
man. In 1776 Wayman was arrested and mpris-
oned 1or q contempt OF tho Assembly upon no
other charge than that Of two typographical errors
Governor Of the Colony. One of these errors con-
sisted in printing the word eu for euer by reason
OF which q the meaning Of the sentence was revers-
ed. Nothing can bo more annoying to authors
and publishers than errors Of the Press; and vet
those who are unskiled in the art Of printing can
scarcely conceive the difficulty OF avoiding them
10 arrive at ordinary accuracy in daily newspa-
per requires the reading and correction of at least
two proofs; and even then an editor who has not
often be shocked st the Transformation OF sense
into nonsense, or the numbering of ono Of his hap
piest conceits, or the plucking lf the point from
error the early Of Rs ar e9 prptns
errors were far more numerous than in books Of
modern execution. TWAS then very common for
volume of ordinary size to contain page upon
page Of crrata at the close. One of the most re-
markablc instances Of this kind was the curious
treatise Of Edward Leigh on .'Reieion and Leasn-
were three folio pages Of corrections in Yhry
minute type It is singular fact that the edition
OF the LATIN yulgate BY Pop: sixtus v, although
carefully superintendent, sheet by sheet, by His
Holiness, has ever remained without q rival in
typographical inaccuracy. Still more curious was
the fact that the Pope, in the penitude of his
pontifical intahbihty, prefxed to the first volume
bull OF communication against any and every
printer who, in reprinting tho work, should ever
make any alterations in The text. Among instances
Of typographical errors the lecturer gave the foI-
lowing: A lad in a printing Office, who knew more
about tyIe-s setting than he did Of the Greek my
tholoSy, IN looking over poem they were print
ing, came upon tho namo OF Uecate one Of the
lady divinities of the lower world occurring in a
line like this: ''She shall reign the Hecate Of the
deepest He'll" Tho boy, thinking he had dis
covered an error, ran to the master printer md
ingvlred eagerly whether. there was E in cat
Why, no, You blockhead,' was the reply. Away
ohjectional letter But fancy the horror Of both
poet and publisher when the poem appeared with
the line-''She shall reign the he Cat Of the deep
est Hell" This, however, was not so bad as the
1nannor in which the printers treated Miss Landon
In speaking OF it she says And when had
written full blown roses" the nasty things mado
1t full blown noses." Benjamin Franklin once
putting to press .YoTm' Of tho Common Prayer
the Letter n M the following dropped
tho twinkling OF an eye" When the book appaar-
ed, to the horror OF the devout worshippefs, the
passage read: s.We shall all DO hanged IN the
twinkling Of an eye" Franklin has been suspect
ed OF having done this Intentionally, but It ap-
pears to me without good reason. But, after all,
when it is considered Of how many separate and
minute pieces of metal book form or the page of
newspaper is composed, the wonder is tha5 the
errcrs Of tho Press are not far more numerous
than they A single page Of one Of our largest
papers cannot contain less than 81, 900 separate
pieces Of metal, each Of which must be nicely ad-
Justed IN its own proper place, and confu-
sion Will ensue. #5 WA T@