Proofreading

Proofreading is hard and this article from an 1885 Kentucky newspaper makes me feel a little better about the typos I miss.

Painstaking people, who know next to nothing of printing, finding a special delight in searching out typographic errors in newspapers, periodicals and books, the detection of a blunder, in their own estimation, putting a premium on individual intelligence—conferring a privilege of disparaging printers. Men of intelligence who write well but not legibly never tire of pointing out mistakes of printers and the oversights of proofreaders. These self-constituted censors of typography may find food for wholesome reflection in the fact that just about one hundred years ago a number of professors in the Edinburg University undertook the publication of a book which should be a perfect specimen of typographical accuracy. Every conceivable precaution was taken to prevent errors of the types. Six experienced proof readers were employed who devoted hours to the reading of each page. After their careful task was completed, each page was posted in the hall of the University with a notification that £50 would be paid to any person who should succeed in discovering an error. Every page remained thus publicly exposed for for two weeks before being returned to the printing office. The projectors of the work felt confident that the object so diligently striven for had been attained. Great was the discomfiture of the learned men when, on the work being issued, several errors were found, one occurring in the first line of the first page.