Buzz
Mistakes are a part of human nature, and typographical errors are no exception. However, the impact of these errors can vary greatly—miswriting a colleague’s name in an email is one thing, but making an error in a book that will be printed and referenced for generations is another. Some typos even turn out to be beneficial; for instance, the name Google is famously said to have originated from a misspelling of “googolplex.” Whether they’re helpful or humiliating, certain typos become immortal, especially in today’s digital age. Below are some of the most unforgettable mistakes in publishing history.
1. An American Tragedy
Theodore Dreiser’s 1925 masterpiece contains a few minor typos, such as mixing up “to/too” and “if/it.” One particularly amusing error describes characters as “harmoniously abandoning themselves to the rhythm of the music—like two small chips being tossed about on a rough but friendly sea.” While it’s likely he meant “ships,” there’s always the possibility he was envisioning a sea of salsa.
2. The Good Earth
The initial printings of Pearl S. Buck’s 1931 novel can be distinguished by a notable error on page 100, line 17. The text describes a wall where people built their huts: “It stretched out long and grey and very high, and against the base the small mat sheds clung like flees to a dog's back.” Copies with this typo are highly sought after, with some editions fetching up to $9500.
3. Cryptonomicon
Neal Stephenson’s 1999 sci-fi thriller, in its original hardcover version, is known for several basic typos, such as “a” instead of “at” and “that” instead of “that’s.” On page 700, the word factitious appears in place of “fictitious.” Some enthusiasts argue that these errors were intentional, forming a cryptic message tied to the book’s theme of codebreaking during World War II.
4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
The inaugural book in the cherished Harry Potter series would be adored by muggles regardless of errors, but certain copies are highly prized due to a typo. On page 53, in a list of Hogwarts school supplies, “1 wand” appears twice—once at the start and again at the end. While the mistake was corrected in later printings, it resurfaced in some editions, making the true first editions exceptionally valuable.
5. Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller’s 1961 novel, a tale of debauchery in Paris, sparked over 60 obscenity lawsuits and is riddled with numerous typos. Examples include “He listend to me incomplete bewilderment” (page 271) and “Even after he has slept with one of these mythical cratures he will still refer to her as a virgin, and almost never by name” (page 91). Some speculate that Miller may not have been entirely sober during its writing.
6. “The Wicked Bible"
The 1631 edition of the King James Bible, printed by Robert Baker and Martin Lucas, introduced an unintentional alteration to the Seventh Commandment, stating “Thou shalt commit adultery.” This error angered King Charles I and the Archbishop of Canterbury, leading to a £300 fine and the revocation of the publishers’ printing license. Most copies were destroyed, earning it the nicknames “The Wicked Bible” or “The Sinners’ Bible.” Only around 10 copies survive today, with one auctioned by Bonhams in 2015.
7. The Road
In the initial printing of Cormac McCarthy’s postapocalyptic novel The Road, page 228 states, “A moment of panic before he saw him walking along the bench downshore with the pistol hanging in his hand, his head down.” The surrounding context, however, refers to a beach, suggesting that “bench” might be a typo. Unless, of course, it’s a very long bench by the shore.
8. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Much like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain employed creative liberties in Huck Finn, using spellings like “spos’n” for “supposing” and “gwyne” for “going to” to capture the Southern dialect. However, amidst these intentional quirks, the first edition contains a genuine error: “I took the bag to where it used to stand, and ripped a hole in the bottom of it with the was.” (The correct word should be “with the saw.”)
9. A Dance With Dragons
The entire Song of Ice and Fire series—the inspiration for HBO’s Game of Thrones—is filled with typos and inconsistencies, but Book Five stands out for its errors. For example, on page 854, Queen Cersei descends a staircase and thinks: "’I am beautiful,’ she reminded himself." Additionally, the word wroth is repeatedly misused, such as on page 53: "Even in the north men fear the wroth of Tywin Lannister." (Wroth is an adjective meaning angry; George R. R. Martin likely intended to use “wrath,” the noun form.)
10. Gravity’s Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon’s acclaimed 1973 novel contains several typos, including: “Over croissants, strawberry jam, real butter, real coffee, she has him running through the flight profile in terms of wall temperature and Nusselt heart-transfer coefficients ...” The correct term should be “heat-transfer,” of course.
11. The Queen’s Governess
Karen Harper is praised for her historical accuracy in her Tudor-themed novels, but her 2010 book The Queen’s Governess contains a notable slip. When Kat Ashley, lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn, is awakened by intruders demanding to see Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth, she says: “In the weak light of dawn, I tugged on the gown and sleeves I'd discarded like a wonton last night to fall into John's arms." While Tudor-era England may not have been familiar with Chinese cuisine, the intended word was clearly wanton, not “wonton.”
12. Plague Ship
Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul’s collaborative novel features an odd typo where a character trapped in an overturned ATV thinks: “He goosed the throttle and worked the wheel, using the four-wheeler’s power rather than moist his strength to right the six-hundred-pound vehicle.” While it’s an amusing error, it almost makes sense—saving one’s energy (or “juices”) for later.
13. Freedom
Jonathan Franzen’s 2010 novel, hailed as “the book of the century,” faced a major mishap in the UK when an unproofed manuscript was accidentally printed, resulting in hundreds of typesetting errors. HarperCollins had to recall thousands of copies and established a “Freedom recall hotline” for readers to exchange their flawed books for corrected versions. Ironically, Franzen might have saved his earlier title, The Corrections, for this debacle.
14. Twilight
The initial printing of Twilight contained numerous typos. While many were common errors like “whose/who’s” and “though/through,” some were more amusing, such as: “I ate breakfast cheerily, watching the dust moats stirring in the sunlight that streamed in the back window.”
