main printed feature: error

It was not unusual for books in this period to be printed with errors in them. Sometimes those errors would be corrected (see the corrections tag for examples), but not all errors were fixed. These images show some of the mistakes that could happen in printing and, in some cases, the things we can learn from those errors.

Beaumont and Fletcher, Scornfull Lady, 1651 (B1r)

In the upper right corner of this page is an odd blank space that cuts off some words---probably the result of a misplaced frisket or a stray piece of paper that got between the blank sheet of paper and the inked type.

Bible, Massachuset, 1663 (A1r)

Though not credited, several Indigenous people were involved in the translation and production of the book, including James Printer, the first Indigenous American to work in a print shop. Eliot believed the Masschusett people would be more receptive to conversion if it was presented in their own language. In this way, the Eliot Bible was a physical tool of colonialism: a way to overcome the language barrier so that Indigenous people could receive the colonizer’s values, but not vice versa. On this page, one of the fleurons in the lower right section of the headpiece is upside-down, perhaps an error made in haste.

Connecticut, Proclamation, 1783

If you look closely at this broadside, you might see that the text at the top and bottom have light shadows---a faint double impression caused by an accidental bounce of the paper on the inked type

Fletcher, Thierry, 1621 (C1v corr.)

This page shows the corrected version with all of the proofreader's indicated changes on the proofsheet made. This copy of the play provides a useful comparison of this process since a former owner has, unusually, bound in the proofsheet immediately following this correctly printed page (reversing the leaf so that the two versos face each other).

Fletcher, Thierry, 1621 (C1v uncorr.)

This page survives from one of the playbook's original proofsheets. The corrector has written marks down the margin indicating where the text needs to be reset. In the tenth line, the last word is struck out and a "d" for "deleted" is placed in the margin; in the very last line, a caret after "Martell" indicates where the comma needs to be added. If you compare this proof with the corrected version, you'll see the compositor has made the requested changes.

Marmion, Antiquary, 1641 (H4r)

Blank areas on a page are usually filled with type or spaces that won't print---without those extra pieces, the platen of the press will tilt unevenly as it's pushing down on the forme. On this copy, the quads used to fill the blank areas were accidentally inked and printed.

Moxon, Mechanick exercises, 1683 (pl. 24)

This entire page is made by engraving lines into a copper plate. When the engraver noticed that a letter had accidentally been dropped from "Emptying" in the caption, he used a caret to insert the "p" in its proper place.

Webster, White Devil, 1631 (F3r)

The blank space at the top of the page, interrupting the headline and the middle of the first seven lines of text, was probably caused by a scrap of paper accidentally getting between the inked type and the blank paper.