Loads of errors in a Penguin epub

iozy · 04-28-2009, 08:09 PM

I just bought a Penguin epub from WH Smith... the complete essays of Montaigne.

I was shocked and disappointed to find many serious errors and mistakes even from a cursory initial glance through the text. In many instances words are missing or repeated, to be replaced by full stops or dashes. Most of the instances of the word 'I' are replaced with a '.', so you get sentences like:

". am among those who are most free from this emotion: . neither like it nor think well of it".

So it looks like OCR mistakes.. but this is a Penguin book straight from the publisher, I was hoping/assuming they would use the original source text used to produce the print paperback.

Versions of this work are available free online in ebook form, I decided to pay a premium for this Penguin edition to be sure of getting a complete and trustworthy text in a great translation... I wish I could cut and paste bits of this text to show you all how bad it is. OK the Gutenberg translation isn't as good and doesn't have all the footnotes and introductions but at least it is readable and proof corrected... oh and free!

I am seriously shocked and disappointed that a 20GBP ebook could have been produced so haphazardly and seemingly without any care or quality control.

I'm using Adobe Digital Editions on a Mac. If I click on document info, there is a section that says 'The document appears to have minor errors that might cause it to be displayed incorrectly'. Hmm.

jaxx6166 · 04-28-2009, 08:47 PM

You're not the only one to complain about Penguin ePub books. They were the first big name book publisher to firmly embrace ePub / ebook and a lot of their original releases have had several errors in them. I purchased a couple of SM Stirling books and they were nigh unreadable.

Usually a quick email, phone call or snail mail letter telling the company of their displeasure usually resolves the issue in a few months..

iozy · 04-29-2009, 04:22 AM

I wouldn't mind several errors in a 1000+ page book, but we are talking about 5 or 6 or 7 on *every single page*... I can't believe they are using OCR and not proof-reading... I would have thought they would use original digital source files or something.

I've emailed WH Smith ebook store and Penguin themselves.

04-28-2009, 08:09 PM	#1
iozy Member Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: PRS-505	Loads of errors in a Penguin epub I just bought a Penguin epub from WH Smith... the complete essays of Montaigne. I was shocked and disappointed to find many serious errors and mistakes even from a cursory initial glance through the text. In many instances words are missing or repeated, to be replaced by full stops or dashes. Most of the instances of the word 'I' are replaced with a '.', so you get sentences like: ". am among those who are most free from this emotion: . neither like it nor think well of it". So it looks like OCR mistakes.. but this is a Penguin book straight from the publisher, I was hoping/assuming they would use the original source text used to produce the print paperback. Versions of this work are available free online in ebook form, I decided to pay a premium for this Penguin edition to be sure of getting a complete and trustworthy text in a great translation... I wish I could cut and paste bits of this text to show you all how bad it is. OK the Gutenberg translation isn't as good and doesn't have all the footnotes and introductions but at least it is readable and proof corrected... oh and free! I am seriously shocked and disappointed that a 20GBP ebook could have been produced so haphazardly and seemingly without any care or quality control. I'm using Adobe Digital Editions on a Mac. If I click on document info, there is a section that says 'The document appears to have minor errors that might cause it to be displayed incorrectly'. Hmm.

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04-28-2009, 08:47 PM	#2
jaxx6166 Wizard Posts: 1,222 Karma: 769316 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Eternal summer Device: 350, iPad, PW	You're not the only one to complain about Penguin ePub books. They were the first big name book publisher to firmly embrace ePub / ebook and a lot of their original releases have had several errors in them. I purchased a couple of SM Stirling books and they were nigh unreadable. Usually a quick email, phone call or snail mail letter telling the company of their displeasure usually resolves the issue in a few months..

04-29-2009, 04:22 AM	#3
iozy Member Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: PRS-505	I wouldn't mind several errors in a 1000+ page book, but we are talking about 5 or 6 or 7 on every single page... I can't believe they are using OCR and not proof-reading... I would have thought they would use original digital source files or something. I've emailed WH Smith ebook store and Penguin themselves.

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