What are “Errata”?

Chances are you have encountered some “errata” and perhaps even commented on it, but never knew quite what it was.

Errata are mistakes in literature that made it through the editing process and were published. These mistakes can be spelling errors or logical inconsistencies, and for the more anal-retentive of readers, they can provide a source of either deep amusement or of deep irritation.

These kinds of quirks can add value to your used and rare book collection, and while most errata originate from printing or publishing errors, some of the errors come directly from the source—the author!

We’ve included a selection of books with famous and not-so-famous errata that you can purchase right from Biblio!

Searching for Love and Freindship will set your spellchecker on edge.  A young Jane Austen was momentarily confused by the spelling of “friendship” and her mistake was immortalized by the editors and publishers who consciously printed the spelling error, keeping true to the original manuscript written by Austen. Long before she wrote Pride and Prejudice, Austen wrote Love and Freindship as a clear parody of the swooning romantic novels that dominated the literary scene of her childhood.

F. Scott Fitzgerald may now be most famous for The Great Gatsby, but his earlier work, This Side of Paradise, was more well-received when it was first published.  Of course, there were so many spelling and grammar errors and logical inconsistencies in the first edition that he became almost as famous for the errata as for the plot!  The errors were removed for later editions.

This particular example of errata does not appear to be a mistake by Hemingway himself.  Inside the front flap of the first edition, first issue dust jacket, the female lead’s name, “Catherine Barkley” is misspelled as “Katherine Barclay”.  Later editions and printings of A Farewell to Arms have the correct spelling, making the mistake very rare indeed.

Provide your own examples of errata in the comments section!