Sunday, 29 November 2009

Oops - even Oxford University scholars make mistakes

As I mentioned briefly on Friday, as you finished reading vol. II of Pride and Prejudice, you might have liked to see if you could spot the mistake that Fiona Stafford makes in that volume (Austen, Stafford & Kinsley, 2004). I don't think it's a serious mistake, but it did surprise me.
I like the Oxford World Classics editions of the great works of English literature, which, as we would expect from anything bearing the Oxford University Press name, are very well edited and produced, which makes it all the more surprising that Stafford's mistake was not only made, but not picked up in proofing. This afternoon, I bought a new copy of the edition we are using, which was reissued in 2008, and the mistake has not been corrected.
I have no complaints at all about Austen's writing, and Kinsley's editing seems excellent. Stafford's introduction is also well worth reading. It is insightful and suggests some productive ways of approaching the novel. I personally did not find some of her explanatory notes that useful, although others did give useful information, and it is in one of these notes that the mistake occurs. In fact, I only noticed it very recently when, out of curiosity, I read a note that I'd previously ignored. I've since checked all the rest and have not found any more errors.
__________
References
Austen, J., Stafford, F., & Kinsley, J. (2004). Pride and Prejudice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

1 comment:

  1. In case you missed it this morning, the mistake is in Stafford's note to page 156. The evidence that she is wrong is on page 111.

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