Errata
For fun, here are a few errors (both typographical and editorial) I happened to notice while reading various books for pleasure, or using for reference.
Altered States by Paddy Chayefsky
Corgi paperback, 1980
p27: ... as soon as she
she began turning wheels...
House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Head of Zeus paperback, 2024
p16: ... that got her promoted to some position involving less corpses
p47: ... that was the least guttering light of Mazdek... [should be 'last']
103: 'We're in the army,' he man said.
168: ... principally that they hired in vast numbers of mercenaries...
183: They crept out of the hollow and nobody shot then.
447: ...stoking the fire with an iron in his left hand, stirring the pot with a rod in his left.
484: ... but she won't given Maserley the satisfaction of seeing her fall.
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
Weidenfield & Nicolson paperback, 2004
p101: But it was one of the only things all of them had in common.
p373: "When we see the octopuses 'speaking', the shapes descend from their bodies...so I am assuming that the sequence would be 'read' from top to bottom."
[No. It would be read from bottom to top.]
If People Don't Speak of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregory
Bloomsbury publishing paperback, 2003
p238: ... hey, hey now don't be ashame,...
Crow Moon by Suzy Apsley
Orenda books paperback, 2024
p71: '... She's an old friend,' he smiled.
p76: She'd been wracking her brains...
p113: '... similar presbyterian sensibilities to Scotland,' he smiled wryly.
The Murmurs by Michael Malone
Orenda books paperback, 2023
p14: 'Here' she said...
p113: ... her mother's lack of reaction them.
p139: Bridget didn't want the anyone to intervene.
p152: 'If so, where is she?' she paused.
p233: 'Agreed,' he laughed again...
p237: 'I am,' she fought her rising anxiety.
p300: ...And there's this wee loch,' he grinned.
p305: 'Imagine living there,' she pointed,...
p305: 'It's empty as far as I know,' Chris winked...
p305: 'Anyway,' he pointed to the right.
p306: 'Like it?' he smiled tentatively.
p319: But a woman appeared out of nowhere and start shouting at them.
The Dark Crusader by Alistair Maclean
Fontana paperback, 1963
p27: ... and although I couldn't see anyhting...
p28: ...until then did I realise how cold and dank is was in that...
p36: ...I looked around me vigilantly as I could...
p57: ... comfortable looking rattan chairs and setees...
p142: "It doesn't matter." "Not any more, it didnt. "I think, Anderson...
p196: "Listen carefully, Captain. "Fleck's a crook...our only hope."
p202: "Nearly all night, you said. "Nearly?"
p210: "Don't you want to save Miss Hopeman's life?"
"This was it. I should have... [this line not dialogue]
Seal of the Worm by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Tor paperback, 2014
p558: "Don't take any shoving from the Sharnesh." [should be 'Sarnesh']
The Air War by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Vintage paperback, 2021
front pages: First published 2012 by Tor
p69: A crowed was dispwersing rapidly.
p631: '... is in range of the city,' Kymene informe her.
With a mind to kill by Antony Horowitz
Tor paperback, 2021
p297: ... the female players in cocktail dresses, the men in tie.
Salute the Dark by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Tor paperback, 2021
p240: Kymene gazed thoughtfully at the front of the Hokiak Exchange thoughtfully.
p404: 'You have me at quite an advantage.' she replied.
Blood of the Mantis by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Tor paperback, 2021
p48: ... was delivered from the air, and comprised of pure hostility...
Queen of Clouds by Neil Williamson
NewCon Press paperback, 2022
p16: ... willow for suppleness, birch for intelligence, beach for wisdom...
p21: Eventually, he managed, "why me?"
p37: ... he added...because he meant it, "of course, if..."
p51: "...What more can you possibly make from me?"
p94: "... for you when the ball is underway."
p109: ... skirmishing around a long standing argument.
p121: Para's express was deadly earnest...
p123: ... flanked by two green uniformed guardsmen.
p124: ... she went back to trying to male out what was happening.
p137: He realised however that...
p147: "We have been instructed..." said Erudite. "To offer you..."
p166: "Help you how?"
"Find out what happened..."
p168: ... and several other high ranking members...
p205: ...pineboard stairs leading to the upper stories.
p205: ... any chance that the lower stories had already been...
p218: I believe I was sensitive to the anguish of city.
p257: ... ever viligant of the balance of things below her eerie...
p258: ... see what the high ups had talked about before.
p283: "Vern, listen," he gripped the lad's shoulder to get his attention.
p293: "... I want my birth right."
p293: "Sorrow, Alicia." Roach said thickly.
p307: ... was not only comprised of former inmates.
Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan
Orbit paperback, 2017
p313: ... but the prospect had never particularly phased him either.
p366: ... Michel asked, trying not to wretch.
p574: ... some of them clamoring into the few remaining longboats...
The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Hanrahan
Orbit paperback, 2019
p29: But it's not fresh, so he looks elsewhere. [The Tallowman described in this sequence is referred to as 'it' everywhere else.]
p82: ... but fortunately it's tied in its sheathe...
p430: "Lead 'em' down to the harbour."
p472 The professor's strange son Miren left a few hours [ago], with...
p509 "I won't ask you to relieve what must have been..." [relive]
Dune by Frank Herbert
NEL paperback, 1965
p295: ...people could be trained to be thirty only at given times.
p354: ... but never seen a more gross and dangerous pig that this one.
p462: ... the advantage he held over Paul -- a way of hiding from the youuh...
Of Good and Evil by Ernest K Gann
Companion Book Club, 1963
p73: It was a miniscule division of the people...
p83: ... Rafferty said, his face redding.
p96: The continuos flow... surged again the surrounding outposts...
Texas Death by Bradford Scott
New English Library, 1967
p64: When Slade entered the sheriff's office around noon, Doc Beard had already assembled his coronor's jury and proceeded to sit on the four dead outlaws.
The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
Pan Paperback, 1960
p30: "Excellent!" said Poirot appreciatively.
"You have found no other letters [...]," asked Poirot.
The Stand by Stephen King
NEL paperback, 1980
p358: It died as Larry grey in her estimation.
p424 ... it was a low-power moped, the closest to a motorcycle that he would come.
p576 ... and then he started to drool... and then he started to gigle.
p582 "All of you, remember you master's voice."
Incident at Twenty-Mile by Trevanian
St Martins Press paperback, 1999
p76 [end of section] "Without undressing - without even taking off his boots - he lay down on his rustling straw and stared up into the darkness."
p77 [start of next section] "As he slowly dressed, numb-fingered..."
Tripwire by Lee Child
Bantam paperback, 2011
p52: "The stock's worth nothing," he said quietly.
Hobie nodded his terrible head, like he was pleased with the reply.
"Right now it isn't," he said. "But it will be worth something soon, right?"
The City by Stella Gemmell
Corgi paperback, 2013
p115: "Sometimes they rode on its moon-shadow; at others it was a dark ribbon in the distance."
p165: "They were both thinking the same." [as what?]
Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky
Orion books paperback, 2010
p318: "His pursuers didn't immediately break cover, concerned that the monster may return..."
The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder
Snowbooks paperback, 2010
p217: "... all have been attacked recently, it seems, accept Connie Fairweather..."
p305: "Laying a little beyond the village...the estate was..."
p319: "How far would we wonder from the course we have steered..."
p381: "Oxford leaned against the wall and listed."
Plain Words by Sir Ernest Gowers, revised by Rebecca Gowers
Particular Books (Penguin), hardback, 2014
p100: "... could always bereplaced by a single preposition"
The End Specialist by Drew Magary
Harper Voyager paperback, 2011
p93: "... wearing a white suit and drinking a purple drank out of the very same grail."
p280: "... and they stop bearing those stupid fang implants..."
Book 26: Hawkite Arrow of the Air by Adam Blade
Orchard Books, paperback, 2009
p95: "om braced his feet..." (Should be Tom)
Last line of last page of book reads:
"No one can conquer him. Leave"
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K.Rowling
Bloomsbury hardback, 1998
p29: "The teapot went beserk..."
p34: "Mrs Weasley had appeard..."
p47: "...small, goblin-driven carts that sped along minature train-tracks..."
p89: 'I don' blame yeh for tryin' ter curse him, Ron, ' said Hagrid...
p144: "... like a large and malevolant bat."
p153: "...Harry could saw a gleaming oak door ahead..."
p180: "...seemed to have turned into a miniscule television screen."
p198: "...couldn't supress a thin-lipped smile."
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K.Rowling
Bloomsbury paperback, 1997
p83: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time."
p140: "... and was now racing long the row behind him;"
The Sword in the Stone by T.H.White
Collins Fontana paperback 1963
p8: "Sir Gumore said..." [Should be Sir Grummore]
p12: "Kay, who was too years older..."
p14: "On the bench their was a jumble of..."
p28: "...one of those beastly femets..." [Should be fewmets]
p28: "What was that?" eclaimed the Wart.
p52: "That will come to be seen as an insanitary habit," said Merlyn, "though I can't see myself."
p72: "She will use my blood for making patterns with no Walpurgis night."
p82: "It rushed upon the man before it with another piercing scread."
p88: "The trouble with the English Artistocracy..."
p92: "Hail," said King Pellinore.
"Hail said the Wart involuntarily.
p102: "... only to stalk off in opposite directions with infinitive precaution..."
p116: "... must choose before confessting himself a human..."
p123: "... getting cross and shewing sings of slapping him."
p170: "Does the T. Stand for anything?"
p200: "... which fell upon the company and Saw Master Twyti..."
p218: "... he took the furry atomy without protest..."
p219: "The wart did as he was told..." [Should be Wart]
p235: "The walked invisible across the sward..."
p236: "It's dragon's, not giants, that grow really big."
p236: "If a human was to grow to six feet, he would simply snap his bones..."
275: "...lest the traveller should be slain by hidden theives."
Robin Hood and his Merrie Men
Dean Classics
Reed International Books, 1992 hardback
p8: "Then he carried home its [a boar's] grizzly head..."
The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen
Transworld, Bantam paperback edition 2011
p343: "I say we just let the think take him out."
p396: "Jane's hand was humming with excitement..."
The Way of Kings, Part 2 by Brandon Sanderson
Gollancz paperback edition 2010
p168: "The highprinces had tried byveryhard to..."
p209: "... glowed softly and gave offa comfortable heat."
p221: "Or byyoucould be wrong."
The Way of Kings, Part 1 by Brandon Sanderson
Gollancz paperback edition 2010
p475: "...making Shinovar one of the only places in all of Roshar where highstorms did not reign."
p490: "...for it was one of the only times when the gods did not watch men."
The City & the City by China Meiville
Macmillan Pan paperback edition 2010
p316: "...but the man could not forebear looking at us..."
The Hobbit by Tolkien
HarperCollins 2006 paperback edition
Last page of the story (p351) has the header CHAPTER TITLE instead of THE LAST STAGE
Butcher's Copy-editing
Cambridge University Press, fourth edition
p46: "watch out particularly for alternative spellings, such as judgement/judgement"
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Orionbooks, 2010 hardback edition
p84: "Richard had been with the project..." (The character is called throughout by his surname Richards.)
p237: "... he tipped his face forward and wretched into the snow."
p244: "He wretched long after the only thing left to come up..."
p631: "... in the tumble of bodies he heard Michael wretch."
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Gollancz 2005 paperback edition
(The Consul is a key character who turns out to be a double-agent.)
p305: "The Consult swept the glass left."
p465: "...cried the poet. 'He's a fucking bysky.'"
Olympos by Dan Simmons
Gollancz 2006 paperback edition
p5: "The street below Helen's apartments...are suddenly filled with running men..."
p296: "Despite requests from Peaen, Loes, Petyr and Isis - all of whom knew she is pregnant - she stayed outside..."
p406: "LordGodZeusOrdersAreThatNoMortalShallEve
BePlacedInOneOfTheRegenerationTanksWithoutHi
ExpressCommand..."
p451: "Legend and myth said that Nyx...had given birth do Eris..."
p823: "Shall wesgo watch John enjoy story hour?"
The Kindness of Women by J.G.Ballard
Flamingo (HarperCollins) 1994 paperback edition
p135: "Henry was more interested in the remnants of the mid-wife's equipment, the foil caps, spare swabs and mouthpiece. Miriam sat up and hugged them tightly."
Copy-editing by Barbara Horn
Horn Editorial Books and The Publishing Training Centre, 2008 paperback
pii: Other Titles by Barbara Horn
Copy-editing by Distance Leaning
p56: "...from cause to effect, from premiss to conclusion..."
p103: "Copyright is the legal right to control the use of original intellectual property, and is one of the intellectual property righta."
The Greedy Rabbit and other stories by Enid Blyton
Award Publications 1991 Hardback edition
p113: "What is the matter?" he said, in his deep voice.
The everyone told him about the bun in the paper bag.
New Hart's Rules: the handbook of style for writers and editors
Oxford University Press 2005
p55: "When a title or heading is given initial capitals, a decision needs to bemade..."
You're Next by Gregg Hurwitz
Sphere paperback edition, 2011
p7: "... one of the only things he remembered about her."
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
Vintage paperback 2010
p314: "And wishing he had lost Camilla to a murderer than in this way."
The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo
Vintage paperback 2006
p133: "Edvard grabbed hold of Dale's gun barrel and stood his face."
Changes by Jim Butcher
Orbit Books 2011, paperback edition
p290:"I am also one of the only people alive who knows how to..."
Thomas & friends: Jack based on stories by Rev.W.Awdry
Egmont edition 2008
"Thomas saw the Flagman and the Driver applied the brakes but they couldn't stop in time."
The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo
Vintage paperback 2005
p231: "...not asking you to begin liking me over night."
p237:
"Excrement."
"What?"
"Pooh."
Tell No One by Harlan Coben
Unknown edition (page missing)
p2: "Lake Charmaine had been the sight of a rich-kids summer camp."
The Hercules Text by Jack McDevitt
Sphere paperback 1986
p228: "The sort of instructions my DNA shoud put out..."
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
Hardback, The Folio Society, 1996
p70: "...The potatoes are on boiling and the kettle's singing..."
[and then on same page one paragraph later]
"Meanwhile the girls were helping Mrs Beaver to fill the kettle..."
The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler
Blue Door paperback, 2011
p495: "By the time the helicopter arrived at the hospital in Umea, the bullet had gone straight through Erik's left shoulder muscle..."
The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis
Hardback, The Folio Society, 1996
p39:
'Yes, it is,' said Polly.
'But we've got to get back.' She stood up and...
p155: 'And my wings are beginning to ache,' said Fledge. There's no sign of the valley with a lake in it, like what Aslan said...
The Great Hunt (Book Two of the Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
Orbit Books paperback, 1992
p219: 'The vood came slowly, hesitantly.'
(Rand is summoning 'the void'.)
The Shadow Rising (Book Four of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
Orbit Books paperback, 1993
p658: "Rand must think I'm crazy... Berelain isn't my mother after all." Nynaeve gave her the oddest look. I am a little dizzy for some reason. A nice boy with sweet brown eyes offered to help me upstairs.
Lord of Chaos (Book Six of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
Orbit Books paperback, 1997
p115: "Light, but he was growing callused enough..." [should be 'callous']
p242: "Pausing in the leather-lunged flaying of an abashed young man..." [presumably should be 'leather-tongued']
Winter's Heart (Book Nine of the Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
Orbit Books paperback, 2001
p583: "... my fine Aes Sedaiuloving Tairen friend."
(should be 'Sedai-loving')
Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
Hardback, The Folio Society, 1996
p168: "Miraz would never be so hair-brained as to throw away..."
Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks
Orbit paperback, 2008
p279: "As the sheered bars came away..."
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis
Hardback, The Folio Society, 1996
p14: Some kids who played games about Narnia
Got gradually balmier and balmier..."
p127: "Instantly, a whole chorus of other voice replied..."
p136: "If we had any assurance of saving her by battle, our duty would be very plain. It appears to me that we have none."
[looks as if a zealous editor has changed 'choice' into 'duty'.]
Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
Orionbooks paperback, 2010
p270: "You already did you worst."
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
Penguin Books paperback, 2010
p196: "Delay that!" shouted the sergeant. "Next one who moves..."
[no doubt 'delay' should read 'belay']
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Gollancz paperback, 2008
p223: "You're still going?" She asked.
p491: Perhaps even moreso.
p538: The unrestricted view in all directions was breath-taking. My only regret is that the clouds had blown in...
[should be 'was', not 'is']
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
Gollancz paperback, 2011
p401: "Do come back tomorrow." he smirked a bit.
BBC website 23/6/12:
Faced with the prospect of imprisonment, and perhaps with it the loss of the mathematics post he held at Manchester University, which gave him access to one of the world's only computers...
Zane Grey's Laramie Nelson by Romer Zane Grey
Belmont Tower Books paperback, n.d.
p9: Tall and spare, Laramie's sandy hair was sweated under his battered Stetson.
Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly
Voyager paperback, 1986
p5: "Wait her," she said, and turned away.
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Gollanz paperback, 2013
p167: "I turned the UV light and shined it on Nightwielder."
p265: "... I flipped it on and shined it right in Nightwielder's face..."
Death of an Expert Witness by P.D.James
Sphere paperback, 1981
p100: "No doubt, though the Dalgliesh..."