re: #75 Cato the Elder

You know that the Germans recognize a specific kind of demon? He’s called the Druckfehlerteuful (typo devil), and he inhabits every keyboard and typesetting shop. (Yes, there are still shops that set type by hand.) No matter how many times one reads one’s own manuscript, he’ll slip something in.

Once, in Edinburgh, the proud Victorians decided to publish a perfect book. I can’t remember the subject, but it was something theological, with English, Greek, and Latin all mixed up in the pages. Proofread, over and over, by the best scholars and typesetters of the day.

So the dons offered a unique and princely prize: they hung out the final proofs of the book in the hall of the main building and promised a reward of 20 guineas (a small fortune at the time) to any student who could find an error.

Weeks went by, and no one was able to claim the prize. So they went ahead and printed it.

The following day, someone found about seventeen errors in the printed edition. Including one on the first page.

Druckfehlerteufel!

The monastery’s scriptorium had just acquired one of the earliest works of Augustine. After weeks alone with it, the abbot came out, pale and shaking.
“It was a typo—the word should be celebrate.”