Printer's Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History

by Rebecca Romney, J. P. Romney

Overview

A funny and entertaining history of printed books as told through absurd moments in the lives of authors and printers, collected by television’s favorite rare-book expert from HISTORY’s hit series Pawn Stars.

Since the Gutenberg Bible first went on sale in 1455, printing has been viewed as one of the highest achievements of human innovation. But the march of progress hasn’t been smooth; downright bizarre is more like it. Printer’s Error chronicles some of the strangest and most humorous episodes in the history of Western printing, and makes clear that we’ve succeeded despite ourselves. Rare-book expert Rebecca Romney and author J. P. Romney take us from monasteries and museums to auction houses and libraries to introduce curious episodes in the history of print that have had a profound impact on our world.

Take, for example, the Gutenberg Bible. While the book is regarded as the first printed work in the Western world, Gutenberg’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on it. Today, Johannes Gutenberg is recognized as the father of Western printing. But for the first few hundred years after the invention of the printing press, no one knew who printed the first book. This long-standing mystery took researchers down a labyrinth of ancient archives and libraries, and unearthed surprising details, such as the fact that Gutenberg’s financier sued him, repossessed his printing equipment, and started his own printing business afterward. Eventually the first printed book was tracked to the library of Cardinal Mazarin in France, and Gutenberg’s forty-two-line Bible was finally credited to him, thus ensuring Gutenberg’s name would be remembered by middle-school students worldwide.

Like the works of Sarah Vowell, John Hodgman, and Ken Jennings, Printer’s Error is a rollicking ride through the annals of time and the printed word.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062412324
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/04/2018
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	529,696
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Rebecca Romney’s appearances on the History Channel’s Pawn Stars have made her the country’s most recognizable rare book dealer. In her career, she has sold single volumes for $500,000, books from the libraries of Isaac Newton and Queen Elizabeth I, and more than one Shakespeare Folio.

J. P. Romney is a historical researcher and the author of the young adult novel The Monster on the Road Is Me.

Table of Contents

Introduction What Do You Reckon This Is? xi

Chapter 1 How to Forge a Rare Book 1

Chapter 2 Forgetting Mr. Gooseflesh 21

Chapter 3 Trees of Truth 51

Chapter 4 Making the Round World Flat 81

Chapter 5 Bad Shakespeare 107

Chapter 6 Benjamin Franklin Makes It Rain 135

Chapter 7 Angelic Visions and Deadly Terrors 163

Chapter 8 The Memoir That Killed Her Memory 195

Chapter 9 American Bookaneers 213

Chapter 10 When Doves Cry 235

Chapter 11 Blifter! 259

Conclusion Nothing More Deceptive than an Obvious Fact 279

Acknowledgments 285

Notes 287

Index 339

Editorial Reviews

Printer’s Error is an entertaining entry in the always fascinating books-about-books genre. The Romneys make good on the irreverent premise that ‘the printed word is glorious, but it’s also nuts.’ How, they ask, can that be so? ‘Because we are gloriously nuts.’ It’s a keeper.” — Nicholas A. Basbanes, author of A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books and On Paper: The Everything of its Two Thousand Year History by a Self-Confessed Bibliophiliac

“Who knew the printed book could be so fun? J. P. and Rebecca have written a real page turner. Printer’s Error is truly a rare treasure.” — Rick Harrison, author of License to Pawn and star of Pawn Stars

“Captivating. It’s like standing in line and overhearing an animated conversation just ahead of you about the secret world of rare books—and hoping you hear it all before they get to the front of the line and wander off someplace else!” — John Simpson, author of The Word Detective

Written in an engaging, accessible style, these accounts will appeal to fans of Pawn Stars, as well as scholars of literature and printing history. — Library Journal

From the Publisher

Who knew the printed book could be so fun? J. P. and Rebecca have written a real page turner. Printer’s Error is truly a rare treasure.

Rick Harrison

Captivating. It’s like standing in line and overhearing an animated conversation just ahead of you about the secret world of rare books—and hoping you hear it all before they get to the front of the line and wander off someplace else!

John Simpson

Printer’s Error is an entertaining entry in the always fascinating books-about-books genre. The Romneys make good on the irreverent premise that ‘the printed word is glorious, but it’s also nuts.’ How, they ask, can that be so? ‘Because we are gloriously nuts.’ It’s a keeper.

Nicholas A. Basbanes

03/13/2017
Rare-book dealer and Pawn Stars expert Rebecca Romney and her husband, writer J.P. Romney (The Monster on the Road Is Me), dive into the history of the printed book with this treasure trove of the stories behind legendary books and their authors. The duo discuss forgeries of works by Galileo and Shakespeare as well as the difficulties of verifying the first printed book in Western history, the Gutenberg Bible, which was never signed by printer Johannes Gutenberg, making copies nearly impossible to identify. Some readers will be surprised to learn that even the concept of authorship is a relatively new one; through the Middle Ages, writers were viewed as mere channels for the Almighty to communicate with, and thus went unpaid. As for copyright, today’s authors have Charles Dickens to thank for fighting for both credit and proper remuneration for their efforts, according to the Romneys. Additional anecdotes—such as the story behind the creation of the revolutionary mapping technique called the Mercator Projection and the destruction of “one of the world’s most beautiful fonts,” the Doves Type—add breadth to this terrific collection. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

The Romneys have given us a delightful romp through the history of the printed book that reads like a late night monologue. If you think printing history sounds fascinating, you’ll love it. If you think print history sounds dull, you’ll also love it. And no matter how much you think you know about books, you’ll find yourself saying, “Are you freaking kidding me? I never knew that!

Charlie Lovett

02/01/2017
Dramatic tales and humorous anecdotes dot the landscape of the history of printing in Europe and America. Rare book expert Romney (History Channel's Pawn Stars) and her husband, J.P. (The Monster on the Road is Me), offer a sampling of stories from the time when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press and moveable type in the 15th century. One curious vignette is about Gutenberg himself, who left no record of his life, and therefore, little was known about him. Scholars could not even prove that he invented the printing press until a German history professor discovered archival material in 1741. Other stories tell of the perils of printing ideas, such as attempts to produce English-language versions of the New Testament despite its prohibition by the Catholic Church. The authors also write about how the history of printing in America and the flourishing of newspapers such as Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette were instrumental to the Colonists winning independence from Great Britain. VERDICT Written in an engaging, accessible style, these accounts will appeal to fans of Pawn Stars, as well as scholars of literature and printing history.—Donna Marie Smith, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., FL

Library Journal

This collection of strange anecdotes from the history of printing could have just been black-and-white and possibly not read all over. But the Romneys put far too much color in this volume for that to happen. And coauthor J.P. Romney successfully transfers the book's wickedly sarcastic tone to his narration. He slyly uses the writings of important historical characters to bring them to life, including a financially wounded Charles Dickens, the likely insane English illustrator William Moore, and the maligned feminist author Mary Wollstonecraft. He keeps listeners laughing so much that they don't realize how much they’re learning. Romney makes the point that printing is much more than Gutenberg—whose name doesn't even appear in the famous Bible he printed. He makes education fun, always a difficult task. D.E.M. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

MAY 2017 - AudioFile

2016-12-19
The role of printed books in Western civilization recounted in diverting essays that recapitulate some significant events in the annals of bibliomania.The Romneys—Rebecca is the rare-book expert on the History Channel's Pawn Stars; J.P. is a writer and historical researcher—tell the secrets of paper and ink, publishing and buying, selling and collecting printed books. The authors offer bright character sketches of the book world's saints and sinners, heroes and losers, savants and simple dopes. They reveal the ineluctable power of the printing press and the odd peccadilloes of antiquarian book people. They also include obligatory discussions of Gutenberg's Bible and Shakespeare's First Folio, which holds a certain "curse" in that "most of those who participated in the creation of Shakespeare's Folio were dead within four years." The drollery among the dusty bookshelves will attract general readers to the innocuous pleasures of bibliomania. Within the entertaining passages, the authors define terms like "incunabula," "colophon," and "ISBN" for the uninitiated, and they pay homage to renowned publishers across the years. Along with favorites of the bookish folk, the Romneys introduce characters like Marino Massimo De Caro, the talented rare-book forger; T.J. Cobden-Sanderson, who built and destroyed what has been called the most beautiful type font ever; and monastic Johannes Trithemius, defender of the art of handwriting against the advance of the new technology of the printing press. Here, too, is Mercator mapping the globe, Dickens pleading for royalties from America, and Mary Wollstonecraft serving as the model of a modern liberated lady. The authors' description of the printing and dissemination of Western literature, mythology, and science employs a vocabulary beyond the usual antiquarian lingo, employing occasional double-entendres and mildly naughty words for a contemporary readership—some of the snarky parenthetical asides should amuse bibliomaniacal newbies. A spritely visit to the land of rare books.

Kirkus Reviews