proofreading.
Who needs proofreaders?!
Well, this was most definitely a first!
I’m a fan of Mary Elizabeth Braddon‘s unique style of writing (she published Victorian Sensational fiction in the 19th Century) but her books are rarities now, so until recently my own collection was limited to three which I reviewed eight years ago on this blog. I recently had a yen to read more so decided to buy two online – from two different sources.
The first one, The Trail of the Serpent, duly arrived but instantly sent the antennae quivering: it was in a plain utilitarian cover …? I’d paid real (but not much) money for it so I did a quick flip of the pages and instantly discovered that … eeeek … it’s liberally littered with typos and weird subheadings and divisions.
Apparently – according to a paragraph of tiny text inside – the publisher, General Books, takes these rare books and, using Optical Character Recognition to reproduce them, make them available at low cost. Knowing how annoying typos can be, the company generously offer a free digital copy of most of the books too, but I only discovered that after I’d finished the hardcopy, so didn’t pursue that option.
I approached the book as something of an unusual challenge, resisted the temptation to correct it, and was amazed to discover that, even for a proofreading fanatic like me, it’s possible to make sense of very distorted text. I persisted to the end, and it was an enjoyable enough tale of a miscarriage of justice, an exceeding devious crook, and some fun characters like a finger-spelling detective who can hear but can’t speak, identical twins, two foundling children, and a crazy old woman or two! Braddon’s writing carried the day.
The second volume, Lady Lisle, duly arrived. Ahah, neat volume, attractive cover. Recognisably normal. Looking good. Except … hmmm … text on the spine upside down …? Am I getting paranoid? But no! Yoiks! … it’s all in French!!! No overcoming that obstacle, I’m afraid, so it goes to a member of my family who’s fluent in the language.
I might be more circumspect and read the small print in future before I buy!