Year: 1879




While printing continues, typo


graphical errors must, of necessity,


occur. Several volumes, made up


entirely of amusing mistakes of


printers, have from time to time


appeared, and we are informed that


a book maker is engaged upon the


preparation of fresh collection of


blunders of types. Let us hope


that the forthcoming book, when it


does appear, will possess at least


the minor merit of originality. En-


tirely too many specimens OF, print


ers' errors have done duty over and


over again until they have been


worn threadbare; have grown stale,


fiat, Improbable. The main object


in gathering, in permanent form,


errors in type setting, is to create a


laugh. If the general public has an


aversion to one thing more than an


other, the particularly hated one is


a stale joke. The dire fate await
ing volume consisting entirely, or
in part, of, ancient jokes, may be
imagined.


What there should be so particu-
larly diverting in the mechanical
errors of printer is not easily un-
derstood. No one thinks of laugh
ing at the mistakes OF an account
ant, the slips of the tongues of law
yers, clergymen, orators. A royal
octave could be made of the wrong
words accidentally y used by the most
eminent members OF the learned pro
fessions. No one would laugh at
them; few would care to read them.
Why the wrong word uttered is not
as funny as the wrong word set up
in type, Is one of those mysteries
that no one has as yet attempted
to solve. Hundreds of intelligent
readers smiled when, a few years
ago, they read in a daily newspaper
that the proceedings of large tenn
perance convention were "parsimo-
niously" conducted instead OF har-
moniously. Had a speaker at that
meeting, in the fervor Of eloquence,
declared that cold-water drinking
leads to perdition, there would not
have been a smile. Pity might
have been expressed for the speak
er; his absent mindedness lauded
as an evidence of entire absorption
in his subject. No one dreams of
defending, much more finding an
excuse for, the compositor. He
has before him, in too many in
stances, illegible copy; has to fol-
low the meaning of headless
writer, who has lucid ideas on all
subjects except the proper con struc-
tion of sentences and the formation
of letters. On newspaper work,
moro particularly in the offices OF
the dailies, the printer is compelle d
to work in a ceaseless hurry, his
"takes" not infrequently so short as
not to afford him the glimmering of
an idea as to what the subject in
hand is about. He cannot make
sense of illegibly written words
from the context, because he has
none within reach. There is no
time to ask for assistance or instruc-
tion; he must rush the copy in type,
the quicker the better. If under
such circumstances a mistake is
made, if thinking man is set up a
drinking man, an intelligent critical
public holds its sides with laughter.


1t is better to amuse people than
to grieve them. Printers can well
afford to pass the ever growing col
lections of typographical errors
smilingly by, and patiently wait
for the coming of the author who |
will, in an untechnical way, tell the
reading public some of the disad- |
vantages under which the average
labors. The wonder is
not that typographical blunders are
but because so few of
them are made. Let any thinking
person take up daily paper at the
breakfast table, and reflect that the
greater portion OF the contents of
,he sheet was In the ink stands and
unused lead pencils a few hours be
ore; that the news passed through
several hands, all liable to error,
before it reached the printer; that
he editorials and locals were writ
en at lightning speed, in a dozen
different scrawls; that there was
cant time for correcting proofs
hen the fair-minded reader will
marvel that he can find so few mis- .
axes, and perhaps laugh less heart {
ly over the next new collection of &
)rinters' errors.