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Where can I report typos in The Hobbit?

23 Mar, 2023 (edited)
2023-3-23 4:37:31 AM UTC

I found a typo in the hobbit, which seems to exist in multiple editions. Its in the first edition hobbit, all the way up to the 75th edition.

Where can I report this typo so that it gets fixed?

Its in Chapter 16 "A thief in the night"; The sentence ends with an exclamation mark, then a space, followed by another exclamation mark. - "Now I will make you an offer! !"

-1st edition: page 277
-1966 revised edition: page 283
-75th anniversary edition: page 248

Its never been corrected as far as I can tell in any edition of the hobbit. And I'm kind of worried that its going to be in the new HC editions (including the deluxe)
23 Mar, 2023
2023-3-23 5:27:39 AM UTC
You can try emailing HarperCollins with the information, they will forward your email to the right team within the company.

[email protected]
23 Mar, 2023
2023-3-23 8:19:23 AM UTC
Here comes the brand new edition thus
23 Mar, 2023
2023-3-23 9:12:37 AM UTC
out of curiosity I checked the Longmans versions, it was corrected there but it also says 'will' rather than 'shall' as do my 2nd & 3rds which do have double '!'

5546_641c162790c8c.jpg 3024X4032 px
23 Mar, 2023
2023-3-23 10:59:56 AM UTC
I had always read the doubled exclamation point as emphatic.
23 Mar, 2023
2023-3-23 12:18:45 PM UTC
I guess Mnt_Dewdskie made a typo, it appears to be "will" in all editions.

History of the Hobbit says it's "Now I will make you an offer – " in one draft.
The editions on archive https://archive.org/search?query=%22co ... e+you+an+offer%22&sin=TXT suggest most editions used "! !", Ballantine used "!!", some Unwin/Guild editions used "!".
23 Mar, 2023
2023-3-23 2:57:21 PM UTC
Oh shoot! I guess I did make that typo lol. Fixed!
23 Mar, 2023
2023-3-23 5:05:05 PM UTC
zionius Does that mean that most publishing companies know about this and haven’t chosen to change it? Like there is a reason for keeping it the way that it is? Seems odd…
23 Mar, 2023
2023-3-23 5:15:54 PM UTC
Also fixed in the 50th Anniversary Edition so they knew in 1987
23 Mar, 2023
2023-3-23 9:17:37 PM UTC
So they fixed it in 87, and re-introduced the typo in later editions???
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