A narrow escape

I ran into one of the perils of reading old books with my latest.

As I approached the end of Behind the Monocle and Other Stories, published in 1930, I noticed that at least one page was missing from my copy. Fortunately it is a collection of short stories rather than a novel (and especially not a mystery), so at least the whole book wouldn't be ruined, but I was facing the prospect of skipping the final story.

However, I was able to track down the original appearance of the short story online, in the magazine The Idler, and because it appeared in an issue from 1910, a scan of the full text was available. A few minutes printing, and I was able to proceed to the end of the book without interruption.

A happy ending (for both book and my reading), but I haven't always been so fortunate. More than once in the past I've had to abandon a book unfinished because of missing pages, either in the middle or at the end.

Has this ever happened to you?

Happened with one of Thor Heyerdahl's books, I don't remember which at this point. This was a publishing error where about 20 pages were repeated and the pages that should have been there were not. Happily, next FotL sale I was able to find a copy with the proper pages, so I didn't have to wait too long to finish the story.

I've had it happen a couple of other occasions, but I noticed before I began the story, so saved myself the frustration.

>2 MrsLee: The most memorable for me in the recent past was an occasion when I was buying a book from a new publisher, though the book in question was old. I had seen an appealing description of the book and the new reprint venture in a blog I followed, so I ordered a copy -- one signature of 32 pages was repeated, and one was missing. I returned that copy with an explanation of the issue, but when I received a replacement, it had the exact same problem. I gave up at that point, got a refund, and have never dealt with that publisher since.

I read one of Mary Roberts Rhinehart's mysteries many years ago, and the last page was missing! Often with her books, that's where the answers are, and sure enough -- so I called the local library. The lady there was kind enough to read the page to me :)

And if I remember correctly, that very problem was part of a Mash episode.

>4 nhlsecord: Ha! That reminds me of the movie Desk Set with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Sounds like the sort of thing those reference librarians would do. :)

Yes! I love reference librarians. In fact, I would like to BE one, in a public library. Actually, I think LT is the home of reference librarians, as in we all jump in with info :-)

Just saw this thread, and it's appropriate. I was recently reading The Red Roan Pony and discovered six pages missing near the end!

I am glad it wasn't the last few pages.

The prospect of finding another copy that was inexpensive was not encouraging. Most online copies are old, worn, stained, and cost more than I want to pay to read six pages!