Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No 3, September 1863: Devoted to Literature and National Policy — John Shaqi
Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No 3, September 1863: Devoted to Literature and National PolicyVarious
History
Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No 3, September 1863: Devoted to Literature and National Policy
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Leigh's case, however, was not so hard as that of a monk, who wrote and
published the 'Anatomy of the Mass,' in 1561. The work itself contained
only one hundred and seventy-two pages, to which were added FIFTEEN
pages of _errata_. The pious monk wrote an apology for these
inaccuracies, which, if true, proved that his case was indeed a cruel
one--clearly proving, moreover, that even if the devil had originally
assisted Doctor Faustus and Gutenberg in the invention, his brimstone
majesty very soon became sick of his bargain. The monk avers that he
wrote the work to circumvent the artifices of Satan, and that the devil,
ever on the alert, undertook to circumvent him. For this purpose Satan,
in the first place, caused the MS. to be drenched in a kennel, until it
was rendered comparatively illegible; and, in the second place, he
compelled the printers to perpetrate more typographical blunders than
had ever before been made in a book of no greater magnitude. But the
malice of Lucifer did not end here. He compelled the priest to act under
his influence while making the corrections!
But they were not all unintentional errors of the press in those days
that appeared such. There were words and phrases interdicted by the Pope
and the Inquisition; and sometimes by adroit management the interdicted
word, though not inserted in the text, could be arrived at in the table
of _errata_.
It is a singular fact, that the edition of the Latin Vulgate, by Pope
Sixtus the Fifth, although his Holiness carefully superintended every
sheet as it passed through the press, has ever remained without a rival
in typographical inaccuracy. Still more curious was the fact, that the
Pope, in the plenitude of pontifical infallibility, prefixed to the
first volume a bull of excommunication against any and every printer,
who in reprinting the work, should ever make any alteration in the text.
To the amazement of the public, however, when the Bible appeared, it
swarmed with errors too numerous for an errata. In a multitude of
instances it was necessary to reprint whole passages in scraps, and
paste over the incorrect verses. Great efforts were made to call in the
edition; and it is now only to be found among rare collections, as a
monument of literary blunders. If the Devil ever troubles himself about
the correction of proofsheets, he was much more likely to be standing at
the Pope's elbow while the Bible was printing, than to be bothering his
head in regard to the poor monk's mass book to which allusion has been
made.
Typographical errors happen in a variety of ways; sometimes by
carelessness, sometimes by the ignorance and stupidity of the printer,
and sometimes by design. Occurring in either way, they are often
ludicrous, and sometimes productive of positive evil. A few examples of
each variety will suffice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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