...title. Misprints on the cover frequently engender a certain skepticism in the reader. (In this instance, though, the book itself is a facsimile reprint, so I'm not particularly concerned about what's inside.)
The transgressor in this instance is a very small press, but famous publishers are hardly immune to the "we don't need to proofread no stinkin' titles" phenomenon. For several years, OUP treated readers to a new novel by Oscar Wilde, called The Portrait of Dorian Gray.
Portait, picture, what's the difference. At least it wasn't The Etch-a-Sketch of Dorian Gray.
Come to think of it, and given that it's a British publishers, at least it wasn't The Picture of Dorian Grey.
Posted by: Adam Roberts | July 17, 2007 at 03:32 PM
The editor of the Penguin Classics edition of Dombey and Son told me that it nearly came out with the cover title Dombey and Sons. Luckily he caught it at proof stage.
Believe it or not, Amazon really does list an audio cassette of Dombey and Sons (well done, New Millennium Audio!).
I've also been told that Church Papists was nearly published as Church Rapists. This may be apocryphal, but I hope it is true.
Posted by: Arnold | July 17, 2007 at 04:54 PM
Well if it comes to that ...
Colly Cibber's play Love's Last Shift was apparently translated into French as La Dernier Chemise de l'amour. True story.
Posted by: Adam Roberts | July 18, 2007 at 01:57 PM