Quote:
Originally Posted by Aleron Ives
I read the Modern Library version of 'Trouble With Lichen', and I didn't notice anything amiss with it. 'The Midwich Cuckoos' is only $2, so I bought it. Here's a word count breakdown by chapter:
Code:
Chapter 01: 1987
Chapter 02: 2644
Chapter 03: 1004
Chapter 04: 4226
Chapter 05: 944
Chapter 06: 2963
Chapter 07: 1759
Chapter 08: 1598
Chapter 09: 2443
Chapter 10: 3138
Chapter 11: 2208
Chapter 12: 1212
Chapter 13: 2690
Chapter 14: 4056
Chapter 15: 3493
Chapter 16: 8212
Chapter 17: 2932
Chapter 18: 7479
Chapter 19: 5560
Chapter 20: 2867
Chapter 21: 3167
Total: 66582
Perhaps some brave soul will compare with the UK EPUB?  |
For the UK Penguin Modern Classics edition, the counts are (using the Calibre Book Editor report):
Chapter 1: 1998 (header 6 words)
Chapter 2: 2660 (header 6 words)
Chapter 3: 1010 (header 4 words)
Chapter 4: 4250 (header 4 words)
Chapter 5: 945 (header 4 words)
Chapter 6: 2990 (header 5 words)
Chapter 7: 1783 (header 4 words)
Chapter 8: 1629 (header 4 words)
Chapter 9: 2458 (header 5 words)
Chapter 10: 3168 (header 6 words)
Chapter 11: 2232 (header 5 words)
Chapter 12: 1221 (header 4 words)
Chapter 13: 2722 (header 4 words)
Chapter 14: 4112 (header 4 words)
Chapter 15: 3531 (header 5 words)
Chapter 16: 8285 (header 6 words)
Chapter 17: 2966 (header 4 words)
Chapter 18: 7542 (header 6 words)
Chapter 19: 5601 (header 3 words)
Chapter 20: 2897 (header 3 words)
Chapter 21: 3189 (header 5 words)
Total: 67189
That's a difference of 607 words or 0.90%. Were you including the chapter headers in your count? If you weren't, the chapter headers count for 97 words which makes the difference 510 words or 0.76%.
So I would say that the difference is almost certainly down to localisation between the UK and the US markets. By all accounts, Wyndham's novels were edited for the US market - at the time, Americans would have been less familiar with British English and cultural references than they are now, and US publishers tended to change manuscripts heavily to make them more accessible for US readers. Quite apart from anything, the presence of untranslated Latin (and other languages) quotes would necessitate that - even I can't translate them now and I did Latin at school until I was 15.
It's possible that the original US paper releases suffered more, and many cuts may have been restored for the ebooks. The only way to know for sure is to find a copy of an original US paper release and compare it to the ebook.