Printer's Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History

Full disclosure: I know one of the co-authors.

This book delivers what the subtitle promises: "irreverent stories from book history." These are well-researched tales, leavened with a healthy dose of snarky humor which amused me tremendously; others may find it a bit much. The chapters range widely, treating everything from the recent De Caro forgeries to vernacular translations of the Bible to Godwin's biography of Mary Wollstonecraft and Dickens' beef with American publishers over copyright. The notes are thorough, the jokes are legion, and it likely will leave you wanting more (I finally read Godwin on Wollstonecraft) - you can't ask for much more, really. Recommended.

The title is a misnomer. This book has little to do with printing errors per se, such as in the points of a Twain or Baum novel. 'Printer's Error' examines episodes or aspects of the lives of authors and/or printers famous in the history of books. Was it just good fortune when book dealer De Caro recently discovered a proof copy of Galileo's 'Sidereus Nuncius'? Did Guttenburg really print the Bible? Was Blake really insane? What plays did Shakespeare actually write and was the original dialogue really as polished as we know it today? Did Franklin really have an eighteenth century Skynet? Did Wollstonecraft's husband, Godwin, deliberately mean to ruin her reputation for more than a century? We learn the answers, or work closer to the show more answers, of these questions and others in this surprisingly well researched and often delightful historical volume. The snide humor and the framing of 200 or 300 year old problems using current conversational vernacular often does not work and is a little jarring, but it can be instructive to approach these incidents from a different angle. Overall, for book people, 'Printer's Error' is a real treat. show less

Full disclosure, I'm a printer and book artist with a particular interest in early printed books, so... there wasn't a lot of ground I've never covered in this book.

However, I think the authors did a good job of breaking the many strands of printing history into manageable chunks, and of highlighting significant philosophical and cultural developments as well.

Sometimes the irreverent tone was grating and will, I suspect, make this book exceptionally dated very quickly, but I did snort with laughter a few times as well.

Where the book really shines is in the conclusion, where suddenly they lay out parallels to this moment in time specifically, as we make our way to a possibly all-digital future -- it's quite brilliant, and pulls show more together all the different themes incredibly well. I wish that thoughtful commentary had been more apparent earlier in the book.

Advanced Reader's copy provided by Edelweiss. show less

I admit to being a fan of the reality television show the Pawn Stars on the History Channel. One of the things I enjoy is when they bring in one of their experts to tell us more about an object and Rebecca Romney is one of the best. I love books so her expertise is right up my alley. I was thrilled to find that she wrote a book along with her husband J.P. Romney and have to say I was not disappointed at all.

Nonfiction can be a tough read. It has to give us facts about the topic and in the hands of a less skilled author it can be really dry. Sometimes we get lucky and find an author who can not only educate us, but also entertain us as well. This is one of those special books. Rebecca and J.P. had me laughing as I learned things I had show more never knew before about Shakespeare, Johannes Gutenberg, Charles Dickens, and Benjamin Franklin just to name a few of the characters included in these pages. My only complaint is I wanted more! This is a great choice for history fans or for people who say they don't like nonfiction. show less

I loved the subjects covered in the book and have gone down many enjoyable rabbit holes based on what I read. So much to learn! Love it. That said, I agree with many of the reviews mentioning the jokes that won’t age well. Still, I’m very glad I read this book. It’s been my ‘books on books’ list for a few years!

Printer's Error is pretty much exactly what it says on the cover, a series of interesting anecdotes about the printing business. The stories go from Gutenberg to mass market booksales in the 1920s, and are about legacies of rare books today and the weirdness of the publishing business. The figures alternate between the mainstream, Gutenberg and his nemesis the anti-printing monk Johannes Trithemius, Benjamin Franklin's creation of an American publishing empire, and advertising genius Edward Bernays, who made books cool to own. And some figures are more marginal-genius poet, engraver, and mystic William Blake, or T. J. Cobden-Sanderson of the 'Beautiful Books' movement, and his destruction of the famous 'Dove font'.

The stories are show more interesting, but the writing style is atrocious. I don't watch Pawn Stars, so I don't know how much of this is Romney's voice, and if it works on TV, but every line has a joke, and the jokes bomb harder than the 8th Air Force. It's just groaner after groaner after groaner, like a third-tier Cracked.com article. There's a decent book in here, but it's buried under the textual equivalent of Miracle Whip. Gross. show less

Really enjoyed this book for its facts and its often hysterical delivery of same. Highly recommended!