Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
My standard practice, when I'm reading, is to "bookmark" any page on which I notice a typo. Then when I've finished the book, I go back to the source and correct the errors.
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Certainly commendable, but not to be confused with proofreading. For instance, there are about a hundred errors, give or take, in your
Kidnapped, most of which can't be seen at a glance, but do change the texture of the book. They're not obvious because they're plausible substitutions, transpositions, omissions, etc. which won't be detected unless you're comparing against a proof copy. The first error is a great example: our first estimate of David Balfour is as "'a canny goer; and I doubt not he will come safe, and be well lived where he goes.'"
This comes across as a bit of a jibe at poor David, who we might assume deals sharply and aspires to be of the
petite-bourgoisie. Unfair, since what Stevenson actually wrote leads us to expect that David has other qualities that will make him one of the most heartily "well liked" characters in fiction.