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    Printer's Error: An Irreverent History of Books
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    Printer's Error: An Irreverent History of Books
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    Printer's Error: An Irreverent History of Books
    Ebook458 pages9 hours

    Printer's Error: An Irreverent History of Books

    By Rebecca Romney and J. P. Romney

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 14, 2017
    ISBN9780062412331
    Author

    Rebecca Romney

    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.

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    Reviews for Printer's Error

    4.5/5

    208 ratings171 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I admit to being a fan of the reality television show the Pawn Stars on the History Channel. One of the things I enjoy is when they bring in one of their experts to tell us more about an object and Rebecca Romney is one of the best. I love books so her expertise is right up my alley. I was thrilled to find that she wrote a book along with her husband J.P. Romney and have to say I was not disappointed at all. Nonfiction can be a tough read. It has to give us facts about the topic and in the hands of a less skilled author it can be really dry. Sometimes we get lucky and find an author who can not only educate us, but also entertain us as well. This is one of those special books. Rebecca and J.P. had me laughing as I learned things I had never knew before about Shakespeare, Johannes Gutenberg, Charles Dickens, and Benjamin Franklin just to name a few of the characters included in these pages. My only complaint is I wanted more! This is a great choice for history fans or for people who say they don't like nonfiction.
    • 4/5
      Irreverent and fun, book lovers will enjoy this very readable history of printing.
    • 5/5
      Really enjoyed this book for its facts and its often hysterical delivery of same. Highly recommended!
    • 5/5
      So, I will, hopefully, write a longer review soon, but for now... 1) Miller is a great writer. 2) She develops not just Circe, but those around her, into vibrant, complex, real characters that you will alternately love and want to yell at. 3) She so skillfully describes life as divine being and love among them that it feels not a whit awkward or contrived (something many fantasy authors have trouble doing).
    • 3/5
      Truthfully I was expecting more from this book with all the hype that there was. I was under the impression it was more "inspired by" greek mythology than just a "behind the scenes" look at it. If you are familiar with Greek mythology at all the plot is a bit predictable, and it reads much more like they odyssey than I was expecting. Overall it was a decent book, I think I was just expecting more from it.
    • 5/5
      And excellent read.I loved how Miller brings the stories of Greek mythology to life. Circe's struggles with being a goddess while interacting with mortals make her very relatable as a character, and the world Miller builds really fleshes out this tale.
    • 4/5
      Madeline Miller's Circe depicts the famous witch as a character we come to understand, admiring her abilities, and understanding her regrets. The story begins with her exile to Aiaia by her father Helios for turning the man she loves, Glaucos,into a god. Then when Glaucos thanks her by falling for the beautiful nymph, Scylla, Circe develops a potion that transforms her to look like her true nature, monster like. It is on Aiaia that Circe learns to perfect her potions and enact the witchcraft that makes for some of the most famous tales in history, most notably her time spent with Odysseus. I thoroughly enjoyed her first novel Song of Achilles and equally enjoyed this as well. Her research and narrative style brings to life the tales of the most famous stories in mythology, but also she gives human, or should I say mortal, dimension to the characters where the readers can apply Circe's trials to their own. Really great podcast on the Ezra Kline show gives the listener a glimpse of the author's brilliance. Highly recommend. Lines:My mother knew he was coming. Frail she was, but crafty, with a mind like a spike-toothed eel. She saw where the path to power lay for such as her, and it was not in bastards and riverbank tumbles......“It is marriage,” she said to him, “or nothing. And if it is marriage, be sure: you may have what girls you like in the field, but you will bring none home, for only I will hold sway in your halls.”Fury, one of the infernal goddesses of vengeance who dwell among the dead....Her face was gray and pitiless, as if cut from living rock, and from her back dark wings lifted, jointed like a vulture’s. A forked tongue flicked from her lips. On her head snakes writhed, green and thin as worms, weaving living ribbons through her hair.You can teach a viper to eat from your hands, but you cannot take away how much it likes to bite.But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me.He showed me his scars, and in return he let me pretend that I had none.Odysseus had said once she was like a blade honed to a hair’s fineness, so delicate you would not even know you had been cut, while beat by beat your blood was emptying on the floor.“Why did he leave?” The question was like an oak seedling, I thought. A simple, green shoot above, but underneath the taproot burrowed, spreading deep.But he was a harp with only one string, and the note it played was himself.I have aged. When I look in my polished bronze mirror there are lines upon my face. I am thickened too, and my skin has begun growing loose. I cut myself at my herbs and the scars stay. Sometimes I like it. Sometimes I am vain and dissatisfied. But I do not wish myself back. Of course my flesh reaches for the earth. That is where it belongs.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this ride! This book is very well written and reminded me of Gregory McGuire and how he created all the backstories for the characters from the Wizard of Oz. I would love to see this made into a movie.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorites ever. Excellent audio narrator. I love that I did not know where tje story was going to go, exactly, and I loved the character at all her stages. The character development, narrative voice, setting, use of myth, imagery - all amazing.
    • 5/5
      I loved every inch of this book. Circe was full of sorrow, happiness, hopelessness, revenge and compassion.I am a sensitive person so I am sorry if it seems like I cry through a lot of the books I read, but in my honest opinion if an author is able to invoke tears from me, then I see that as a sign they know how to tell a story and make it really hit with that level of emotion.I cried a lot in the first half of this book. The first half is full of learning who Circe is and where her linage starts. She is a Titan, daughter of Helios but she is also a Nymph, and immediately we learn she is nothing in her father's eyes. She is quite and complacent but yearns to learn and yearns to be wanted. The later half of the book focused on Circe's time with Odysseus and their son Telegonus, I have to say I do not mind the small changes the author made with this portion of the story, I felt it fit the flow of the storytelling. Overall I thought the changes and the way the author expanded and fleshed out the characters really helped bring the story to life.There were so many moments through out this book, where in my head I was saying "No Circe do not beg for his love" "No Circe you are better then revenge" "Yes Circe get your revenge" "Stop falling in love with these mortals Circe" "Oh Circe, love him dearly" If there was one thing I really learned from this telling of Circe, was that she loved fiercely and deeply, and mortals where her weakness, oh my goodness did Circe love those silly mortals. But I love this about her character, I love that she loved the way she did, it was one of those small connections I could make with her.There were others moments I connected with Circe, I know what it feels like to yearn for love, and to beg for it, when it seems no one ever will, and I feel that is why I truly loved her story. She yearns and she fights and while at times she appears to lose herself she always managed to resurface. She faced her past, she lived for so long she learned what she did wrong and she came to regret many things in her life, but she held herself to them, she accepted that her past is a part of her and she just needed to keep moving.I was pleased to know more about Circe outside of Odysseus, there were pieces of her story I did not know, such a Scylla, and I love how that part of the story came full circle at the end. I loved seeing her stand up to Athena and to Helios, she become strong in herself.I listened to this on Audiobook and I have to say the narrator Perdita Weeks, did absolutely phenomenal with it. She invoked the pain, and the grief, regret, anger and hopelessness so flawlessly that I felt like Circe herself was truly telling me her story. She knew just when to change her tone, and how to deliver the lines with the right emotion. I do feel like I would have enjoyed this if I read it myself as it was truly something worth reading, but the narrator sold it 1000xs more.
    • 5/5
      oh my word."child, make another"I don't even have words for how profoundly beautiful the book is. Mastery in every way, the writing, the pacing, the story. It should resonate with every person who has lived through dark times, the unexplained darkness of being a woman, a mother, a pain that has spanned generations and retold its trauma since the beginning. The eternal tale of the rising of the power within.I felt every sentence, every emotion as if they were my own. And Circe the "malevolent" witch of the Odyssey. Here's the real of it, a woman's truth is always hidden behind the tales of men.This will be an all time favorite book for me. I wished it never ended.Bonus points to the narration by Perdita Weeks. Absolute perfection.
    • 3/5
      Big ol' "meh" from me on this one. Greek myth retelling, I'm just...not sure why? It was fine, the language was occasionally beautiful in an ornamental way, but the story felt uninspired—worthwhile to point out that the gods are jerks if you didn't already know, and brought a woman's viewpoint to the fore in a typically-patriarchal tale, but it doesn't spin the tale in any particularly interesting direction.
    • 5/5
      Blending tales of ancient Greek gods and goddesses with other classic stories like the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Minotaur, and Daedalus and Icarus, this book has something for everyone. Circe is the daughter of the Titan Helios and the naiad Perse. As such she is immortal but she is fascinated by mortals. She meets a mortal sailor and falls in love with him but when she transforms him into an immortal he doesn't return her love. Instead he falls in love with the nymph Scylla and Circe was so jealous she changed Scylla into a monster. Scylla inhabited a rocky island close to the deadly whirlpool Charybdis and ate sailors who were unfortunate enough to sail too near the shores of her island (engendering the phrase of choosing between Scylla and Charybdis meaning a difficult choice between two evils). Her witchcraft called her to the attention of Zeus, head of the Olympian gods, and he demanded she be exiled. The island to which she was exiled was not a barren rocky place but quite lush with animals and fruits and a large house. (The house needed no maintenance or cleaning which sounds quite delightful.) Circe devoted herself to perfecting her witchcraft for which she gathered plants found around the island. Years passed with no contact with others and then a ship pulled into the harbour. It was sent by her sister, Pasiphae, who was married to the King of Crete, Minos. She had sent Daedalus to bring Circe to her because she was pregnant by the sacred white bull of Crete and she needed Circe's help to give birth to the monster who would become the Minotaur. So Circe went to Crete on the ship which Pasiphae had ordered to return to Crete by the fastest way which took it between Scylla and Charybdis. Circe tricked Scylla, helped with the Minotaur's birth and had a love affair with Daedalus. Then she had to return to her island Several times the island was visited by ships and when the crew threatened rape and violence Circe transformed the men into pigs. (Was this the origin of the "male chauvinist pig" epithet?) When Odysseus' ship arrived his crew met the same fate but after Odysseus pleaded for them she returned them to their human shape. Odysseus and his crew stayed on her island for some time, repairing the ship and resting from their arduous journey. Odysseus and Circe became lovers and just before Odysseus left for home Circe allowed herself to conceive his son. This son, Telegonus, would be a threat to Odysseus and thus his protector, Athena, tried to kill him. Circe used all her powers to protect him and he did go on to kill his father. Odysseus' wife, Penelope, and his other son, Telemachus, returned to the island with Telegonus. Telemachus fell in love with Circe and for him she sacrificed her immortality.I've always loved these Greek myths and Miller has done a marvelous job of weaving them all together.
    • 4/5
      An excellent retelling of the Circe myth, with a few alterations that made it better.
    • 3/5
      The fictional world of Circe’s mythology was fun at the beginning, but then....drew on and on and on and on. The last 25% was a sludge to get through. Circe’s internal turmoils felt real enough, but then repetitive. Hermes was probably my favorite character from how vividly he popped off the page.

      There was no climax...or if there was, it certainly wasn’t cathartic enough for me to recognize it.

      The author writes with beautiful vocabulary, but I wasn’t drawn in by the audiobook narrator.

      I wouldn’t recommend this one.
    • 4/5
      A fun read.
    • 4/5
      This retelling of the story of Circe, whom I'd only heard of through the Odyssey as the enchantress that Odysseus encounters, was a touching and humanizing account of this minor goddess of Greek mythology. I listened to the audio version, and the island and its inhabitants and visitors remain vividly in my memory long after I finished the book!
    • 5/5
      There's no need for me to add to the bulging catalog of reviews of this novel, So, I'll just write a few words for my personal log as an aide de memoire of a highly pleasurable read.Ancient myths come to life again refurbished in Madeline Miller's retelling of the tale of the Greek's Wicked Witch of the West, exiled for life to the island of Aiaia for casting a shape changing spell on fellow nymph, Scylla, turning her into a six-headed monster that eats unwary sailors.Circe's knowledge of pharmakopea, the magical lore of the innate powers of herbs and plants, and her talent for distilling them into useful potions sows fears among her relatives, the Titans, who dwell in her father's, Helios the sun god's, court. As the millennia pass, Circe is occasionally visited by seafarers, most of whom are of the nasty pirating kind. Following a brutal attack at the hands of one such visiting leader of a dastardly crew, she gets her revenge by turning them into swine, and from there. . .well, it's a gory end. The ways of gods and goddesses is nasty, bitter, and cruel. They're both fearsome and untrustworthy, as exemplified by Athena and Hermes. The contest of wills and power among the unlikable deities is continuous throughout the novel.Miller gives us a prose epic that is the epitaph of the Heroic Age of Greece, symbolized by the arrival to Aiaia of Odysseus, endeavoring in a half-hearted way, to return home to his kingdom, Ithaca, wife Penelope, and son, Telemachus. It's been 7 years and he will still face delays. We see Odyssus as the last of the Greek heroes, understanding that the man is terminally flawed because of his love, above all else, for warfare and bloodlust.It is left to the sons of Odysseus -- Telemachus and Telegonus -- by two women, his wife and Circe to bring about the new Age of Civilization. Cooperation, peace, just law, and city building, not the tricks of surviving in hand-to-hand, mano-a-mano attack or successfully besieging a walled city like Troy will be the hallmarks of that New Age.For Circe, the world of Olympian and Titanic forms offers nothing in comparison to the qualities she sees in the forms of mortals whose ingenuity, persistence against impossible circumstances, capacity for love, and even their unavoidable ultimate fate seem far more desirable. For the promise of a reunion with loved ones and Great Souls is, in her view, a greater final destiny than the eternal suspension of reward that can never be possessed by any immortal. Miller shows us by the end of the novel that Man will rule the world through the advances that arise within his own mind, and that the Age of the Gods will ultimately wane to nothing.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful retelling of the story of Circe (of The Odyssey fame) with lovely language and an interesting perspective.
    • 5/5
      I've always enjoyed reading Greek mythology when I was younger, so, this story of Circe from her point of view was highly riveting and enjoyable. A page-turner.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully wrought world and crafted novel. I feel much more empathy for Circe and other nymphs like her than I ever did before.
    • 5/5
      What a wonderful book! I grew up reading the Iliad and the Odyssey--I was a nerdy kid--, but never flipped the perspective around to look at these epics from the point of view of the female characters. Madeline Miller's achievement in pouring the old stories into new bottles is remarkable. Here she has placed the witch Circe at the center of the book, while still honoring the central place Odysseus plays in the story. One of the most interesting things Ms. Miller does is she breathes life into the relationship between the gods and mortals. Her concept that the gods laze about and carry about mortals only as playthings, that they are aloof from the affairs of men except when they want something, helps to drive the book. In addition, the book also is a meditation on the disadvantages of immortality, as the witch/nymph Circe learns.Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      Audiobook performed by Perdita Weeks In this marvelous work of literary fiction, Miller, tells us the story of Circe, daughter of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, and possibly best known for turning Odysseus’s men into swine. I studied the classics in high school so was familiar with the basic story line, and some of the family connections, but Miller gives me so much more detail and really fleshes out these characters. With the possible exception of Scylla, no one is all good or all evil. Whether mere mortals, or exalted gods, they succumb to jealousy, ambition, greed, lust, and pride. They exhibit compassion, tenderness, loyalty and love. This is the stuff of myths, so there are fantastical elements. I kept wondering where Circe got all her stores of provisions – seemingly endless supplies of wine, cheese, fruit, bread, not to mention the many herbs she used for her potions. But I can suspend disbelief with the best of them, and gave myself up to Miller’s excellent and gripping story-telling. Miller’s writing wove a spell that completely enthralled me. I was so beguiled that a part of me wished the novel itself were immortal, and that I could keep reading forever. I listened to the audiobook, marvelously performed by Perdita Weeks. She has many characters to handle and she has the skill to do it well. I was glad to have a copy of the text handy, as well, because it includes a cast of characters which explains the various relationships between gods, mortals and monsters.
    • 4/5
      My old love of the classics and my fascination with Greek myths found new enthusiasm thanks to this book which offers a new perspective on the figure of Circe, or rather gives a convincing background for the deeds she is most known for. Daughter of the sun god Helios and the naiad Perse, she was the object of disdain among the other gods and goddesses because of her plain looks and human-sounding voice: her parents themselves favored her other siblings over her, condemning Circe to a life on the margins of such exalted company.At first we see Circe as the proverbial wallflower, trying to fit in among her peers but always being the loner, but little by little a form of defiance comes to the surface, first by offering comfort to a tortured Prometeus, guilty of having gifted humanity with fire, and then by discovering and wielding her magical skills, for which she is banished forever to the island of Aiaia to live in perpetual solitude. And yet this is the moment when Circe truly starts to thrive, turning loneliness into the exercise of utter freedom and the chance to learn the herb lore and incantations for which she will become known. And to be her own woman, one who will ultimately be able to stand up to the gods, like mighty Athena, because Circe’s power is something gained through willpower and application and not something unthinkingly given at birth and taken for granted.Myths have taught us that the gods of the Greek pantheon were fickle and cruel creatures, whose favorite pastime was to drive mortal men toward conflict or to seduce mortal women, but the gods portrayed in Circe go way beyond the depiction of legends and show all their heartless cruelty and mockery for humankind - or for their own kind when perceived as weak. Distance offers Circe this kind of understanding, the ability to see beyond the projected aura of glory and to find these beings wanting and ultimately contemptible, as she does when considering her own father’s attitude:So many years I had spent as a child sifting his bright features for his thoughts, trying to glimpse among them one that bore my name. But he was a harp with one string, and the note it played was himself.Circe’s banishment will not keep her isolated forever, though, and the story shows her meeting many of the figures of legend that have become household names, like Daedalus or Medea or Odysseus, whose sojourn on the island will mark a huge turning point for her growth as an individual. But before that happens, Circe will go through some harrowing experiences that will shape her into the figure passed on by myth: her infamous ability of transforming men into pigs has its roots into her gift of altering people by bringing their true nature to the surface - just as she did in the past by turning the cruel naiad Scylla into the monster of legend. The group of shipwrecked sailors Circe welcomes into her home first thank her for the help, but then they start to ask about “the man of the house”, so to speak, demanding to know where her husband, or father or brothers might be: learning she is alone they proceed to have their way with her, because the lack of male authority or protection just robbed her of any consideration or respect. When she retaliates by transforming them into pigs, she is just bringing their true nature to the surface.By observing Circe’s myth from this angle - which some might define feminist - the author wants to offer a new point of view on these female figures from mythology, understanding that their portrayal has been constantly filtered through a male perspective, where women’s agency was seen as something dangerous: painting them as witches, monsters, or simply femmes fatales who instigated wars and ruin, must have been a way of giving a “safe” context to such exercises of freedom. Again Circe’s considerations come into play when she says that “humbling women seems to me a chief pastime of poets”, in a clear reference to the way Homer described her and others like her, by showing them as a danger to be overcome, an enemy to be brought down.Here Circe’s dealings with Odysseus, during his long stay on Aiaia, stand on an equal footing - not the total submission sung by Homer - and although she comes to love him, she is never blind to his shortcomings or to the fact that love does not entail ownership - something she will learn the hard, painful way with their son, Telegonus. Motherhood is indeed the ultimate growth factor in Circe’s emotional and personal journey, because she finds herself dealing with a totally new experience without outside help or previous knowledge: her strength is put to the test through sleepless nights and fears for the child’s safety, concerns that any mother will certainly be able to relate to, as they will with the selfless dedication that brings her to create a magical shield over the island to keep him safe, one that exhausts her and yet is never acknowledged as such:For sixteen years I had been holding up the sky, and he had not noticed.In the end, Circe’s exile does not only separate her physically from her godlike peers and the toxic influence of the realm where she grew up, it distances her from their inability to grow through experience, or even suffering: such is the destiny of mortals, however, and in the end it’s through mortality that she achieves a sense of her own worth and of her place in the world. Madeline Miller’s novel did create a magnificent character out of the myth, and one that feels not only relatable but also real, the protagonist of a poignantly emotional journey.
    • 4/5
      Madeline Miller does a wonderful job bringing Greek mythology to life. Circe, daughter of Helios and Perse, is exiled to the island of Aeaea where she practices her sorcery. Her specialty is turning men into swine after they have ingested herbs which she put in their wine. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan war, outwits Circe and convinces her to reverse her spell on his men. In turn, he and his men spend a year on the island before returning to Ithaca. Circe fathers Odysseus's child, Telegonus, who later sails to Ithaca to meet his father. Circe equips Telegonus with a spear that has a poisonus tip for protection. However the Fates have already determined that Odysseus will die in the sea and by the hand of his son. Athena, Oddyseus's protectress, had tried to take Telegonus from Circe when he was a baby to prevent this from happening. However, Circe would not let Telegonus go. After Odysseus is killed, Penelope and Telemachus return to Aeaea with Telegonus.
    • 5/5
      Cannot recommend the audiobook of this novel enough. Weeks really knocked it out of the park and kept me engaged the entire time. I want Miller to write tales of ALL the ancient gods and goddesses now.
    • 5/5
      Listened to the audio, which was perfect. An excellent book, it covers what it means to be human through the story of the gods.
    • 5/5
      This is an excellent telling of Circe's story - every bit as good as Margaret Atwoodd's telling of the story of Penelope in her "Penelopiad".I bought this just after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade with the Dobbs decision (2022), so the gender politics (here, set in the realm of ancient Greek myth) feels particularly appropriate.
    • 5/5
      I couldn't put this book down and I am so so so sad that I finished it so quickly. I don't know how Madeline Miller topped 'Song of Achilles' but she certainly did with 'Circe' it was everything and more!
    • 5/5
      I'm convinced Miller is this era's Shakespeare.The prose is elegantly designed, but understandable, making the read smooth and page-turning. The first half was a series of scene snippets to build up to the main story, so while I enjoyed it, it felt disjointed and didn't become a cohesive storyline until the second half. So if you're reading and wondering where it's all going, keep turning the page, the last portion and ending is so fulfilling.If you love beautiful prose, mythology and lore, origin stories, and tough coming of age paths, this is a must read.