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young adult book reviews & more

A case of egregious misprinting

As a book reviewer, I often receive an assortment of various ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) to browse through and, well, review. I'm sure a lot of you have had run-ins with an ARC at least once in your life. There are ALWAYS disclaimers that the ARC is an uncorrected proof, which generally only means that there will be typos or formatting errors.

However, I have never quite seen a misprinting as serious as this: the entire book was incorrect.

Whoa.

This is what happened: I requested a copy of The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood, based on a concept by the Duchess of Northumberland from Amazon Vine. I received it a few days later. The cover led me to believe this was the right book. After all, I've never had something like this happen to me.


Then I opened the book. The first page gives praise for The Olive Farm. The second page talks about a woman named Carol Drinkwater. The title page shows that this book is indeed The Olive Farm: A Memoir of Life, Love and Olive Oil in the South of France by Carol Drinkwater.


Whoa. That's not The Poison Diaries.

Now, I'm definitely keeping this book because it's so unique. I've never seen something so interesting as this. However, what I want to know is how this even came about. Here are the facts:
  • The titles are not the same (The Poison Diaries v. The Olive Farm)
  • The authors are not the same (Maryrose Wood v. Carol Drinkwater)
  • The publishers aren't even the same (Balzer + Bray v. Penguin Books)
  • The publication dates aren't even close (July 20, 2010 v. June 25, 2002)
I'd say those are some pretty big differences. So how is it possible a mix-up like this could even occur? I figured the printer must've made some kind of mistake, but a mistake this big? That doesn't seem very likely. 

Any ideas, anyone?

EDIT: I received a second copy of The Poison Diaries and it was correct (as in, right book!). It seems my The Poison Diaries/The Olive Farm was the only anomaly in the batch.  

6 munch(es) :

Allison said...

That is absolutely hilarous! I mean really, how on Earth does that happen?

Bookworm said...

So weird!

E.J. Stevens said...

Wow, that is very bizarre! Definitely a mix up at the printers. Hopefully they catch this before too many are printed!

xx,
E.J

From the Shadows

Test said...

That is so strange, and even more is the fact that I have the same ARC as you do but mine has none of the problems yours does. Well, at least you have an interesting book to keep. :)

Alea said...

That's crazy!! The only thing that comes anywhere near what you are talking about that I've experienced is I think when i was younger I had a children's book that on one side was the beginning of one book and then end was the beginning of another, but there was no end for either!

Jane said...

I've seen two printing mess-ups in my life...

One was where my library ordered a copy of Twilight and it was printed backwards (you had to read it from the back cover to the front).

Another was not very exciting... there were about five copies of a book, and some of the middle pages were left out.

I just couldn't imagine having an experience as unique as yours must have been!

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