Saturday, August 23, 2008

Bannisters

Why, if you were a copyeditor working at Harcourt in 1925 would you let colour and civilisation stand in their British spellings but insist upon changing banisters to bannisters?

3 comments:

BookLoverMC said...

uhm, I am sort of confused... I suspect, much like yourself... would the potato/potatoe argument fit into this?
JCR

Unknown said...

hi
i am so happy to have stumbled here. was searching to find out which version is correct-the etexts of mrs dalloway or the printed one regarding this passage and if there are other instances that you have knowledge of.

etext:

She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away. The clock was striking. The leaden circles dissolved in the air. He made her feel the beauty; made her feel the fun. But she must go back. She must assemble. She must find Sally and Peter. And she came in from the little room.

printed:
...thrown it away while they went on living.The clock was striking. The leaden circles dissolved in the air.but she must...

i'd really appreciate it if you tell me about it. i am writing from iran!

Unknown said...

The etext is the American edition, it looks like. The printed text is the British. This is actually really interesting & I think I'll write a post about it...