For the “Errata” edition of the Black Scat Review, I came up with a list of unfortunate typos on title pages. I particularly enjoyed inventing fictional publishers. Here’s how it begins:

TYPOS ON TITLE PAGES

H. L. Mencken once observed that a book is most likely to have a typo on the title page, since many publishers forget to proof it. Most of these typos, naturally, are innocuous. The reader who opens The Tempest and finds The Tempesr generally ignores it and reads on. When a typo results in a different word, however, it also creates a new, and often inappropriate, title. The editions listed below, culled from booksellers’ catalogues, now command surprisingly high prices from collectors.  

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEAT: This mass-market paperback, published by Deuce Books in 1959, was part of a series of Jules Verne’s novels marketed to children. The last word suggested a scatological interpretation, to the delight of its intended audience. 

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHNS: Careless typesetting marred this otherwise handsome letterpress chapbook of the fourth Gospel, published by the Swansworth Press in 1931. The Holy Bible did depict Jesus and His apostles consorting with prostitutes, but not as customers.

THE DONG OF SOLOMON: Swansworth was also responsible for this 1933 edition, whose title seems to trivialize the immortal love song of the Old Testament. It also tempts the reader to scrutinize Hypatia Wigmore’s illustrations differently than she intended. 

THE SOUND AND THE FURRY: William Faulkner’s novel was afflicted with this puzzling typo in a 1952 edition from Windcastle Books. The meaning is elusive, but the images it summons are vaguely sexual, and have little to do with either the plot or themes of the book.

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