Potknięcia impresorów i wypowiedzi w sprawie omyłek druku w książce drugiej połowy XVIII wieku. Rekonesans

• Published in: Napis Vol. 26; pp. 149 - 188
• Main Author: Bożena Mazurkowa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences 01.01.2020
• Subjects: eighteenth century; erratum; front matter and end matter; poems ‘to the reader’; printed book
• ISSN: 1507-4153; 2719-4191

The source of discussion in the article are lists of errors, included in publications from the second half of the eighteenth century, detailing mistakes identified in print and the corrections, and addressed to the future readers of these statements, written by printers, publishers, and authors. These two interconnected elements are characterised in the article as contributing to the front matter and end matter of literary and scholarly works, as well as to the structure of a book, and as an important symptom of entering works into circulation. After a discussion of the formal traits of the errata in books of the bygone era, the types and frequency of printing mistakes collected in the errata are explored, in conjunction with an attempt at determining the likely consequences of those errors, which were not included, on the reading of the texts. In the next part of the article, the focus is on the statements made to the readers in relation to the printing errors. The article also explores the source material as one of the elements of publishing practice, changing with time and subject to modernisation, which should also be acknowledged in contemporary editions of historical works.