Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-05-11

THERE are readers who are never hap
pier, as mere readers, than when the,
light upon typographical error in thei
favorite author or journal. No beauty il
the blemished page give quite so much o
a certain kind Of satisfaction as the blemisl
itself, for that enables the reader to ris,
for the moment superior to the writer
however learned, brilliant, or graceful b
may be. The reader seems to have the i'm
preston, more or less vague, that he il
himself an exceedingly clever fellow, ant
straightwey sends note to the editor
pointing out the glaring error that occurred
in his last issue. Every journalist knows
this kind of note, and has dropped hun
dreds of such missives, half read, into his
waste paper basket, for it is only people
unfamiliar with types who think it worth
the while to make an ado about an inver
ted letter or o misplaced comma Typo
graphical accuracy is impossible even in
works slowly and carefully prepared it is
unreasonable to demand it in newspaper
the writing and printing of which are
necessarily done in haste. The wonder is
that there are SO few mistakes. Let the
reader reflect for moment that every let
ter on this page is produced by separate
piece Of metal so small that only the most
skilful fingers can handle it dexteronsly.
The slightest displacement of one of these
slender strips of lead would inevitably
cause a blunder. How easy it is to drop a
type, or misplace it, or dent it! Even
after the proof-reader has corrected his
proof sheet all these chances and hun
dred others are possible. In corr. citing
one error in the types it is the commonest
accident for the compostor to disarrange
a word in another part Of the text Then
proof readers are mortal. There Is moth
ing easier in this world-lying not ex-
cepted-than not to see misprint until 1t
is too late to amend it, and then the blunder
that escaped the keenest eye always
has the faculty Of becoming the
most prominent thing on the page.
An author or proof-reader may re-
wise and revise and at the end find that he
has overlooked some obvious flaw. This
is true of books as well as newspapers
There has never vet been produced a
volume, OF any considerable size, free from
typographical blemishes. Famous print
ers have attempted again and again TO pro-
duce such work The nearest approach
TO success was that of Souza Botelho, who
edited in 1917 a superb edition Of "Os
III
Disraeli tells us, spared no prodi.
gality of cost and labor and flattered him
self that, by the assistance Of Didot, not a
single typographical error should mar that
splendid volume. But after the work was
off the press, an error was discovered III
some of the copies occasioned by one OF
the letters in the word "Lusitano" having
got misplaced during the process OF print
ing.
Errata have been the bane Of writers
and printers ever since the art of printing
was introduced. Oddly enough, these
very freaks of the types which so wiring
the hearts of printers, have sometimes lent
to their books value that they would not
have had otherwise. The other day in
London book was sold for more than
forty times the original cost of the volume,
simply because it contained ludicrous
misprint
A list of notable modern errata would
make as entertaining a chapter as any in
Disraelis four volumes of "Curiosities OF
Literature" Two or three instances OF
the willfulness of types have just occurred
to us. In Mr.. Arthur Helps charming
essay called Brevia," the author, after
discursively showing how critics delight
in fixing upon typographical errors, and
Of assigning to the author what Is fire.
quently the fault of the composition, sug-
gests that some of them are set up in pure
satire by tLat functionary. Thus Mr..
Helps wrote: The ant Is most satirical
creature, as may be seen by the quantity
of fovmic acid that it secretes. which is
only latent criticism" The printer, adds
Mr. Helps, In note, put the word forensic
instead of formic, and this, he did, by "a
subtle expression of wit TO vary monot-
onous occupation" Thus one author, no
ticing another's book, said, the writer is
,otde-minded man." but the printer
turned the compliment TO an insult by
printing rude minded" A book notice
astonished q suh-editor, since 1t began with
"This indefenslble animal v; 1t was a
laudatOry review OF a post-oftice directory,
and the words should have been, This
indispensable annual" During the South,
ern war, telegram was sent from this
country to England, where II appeared u
this effect: "Three dogs fighting with
great courage in Tennessee "; the sentence
should have been, "Three days fighting
with great carnage" A clerical writer
lately, referring to Paul and Apollos,
shocked his seriously minded readers by
the conjunction of Paul and Apollo. In
an English newspaper reprint OF DR.
Holmes admirable lecture on Mechanism
In Thought and Morals" the author is
made to enunciate profound but melan.
choly truth: I'VE have prejudiciG intel
lects as nearly achromatic As the organ OF
vision" when the fact is that the author
wrote "judicial iniellects" A few years
ago, the Atlantic Monthly published poem
containing the lines:
"Well, we'll, think not on those two
But the old wound breaks out anew"
The New York Leader, In reprinting the
poem, made the verses read as follows:
swell, well, think not on those two
But The cd U0ns0n breaks out anewi"
Imagine the poets surprise and disgust
To return TO our former assertion, typo.
graphical errors are not TO be avoided and
the more an author knows about the types
the less they will have II In their power To
astonish him by anything they may take
it into their heads TO say In his name
Ecery Saturday.
Simplicity and Elegance.