Sunday, March 14, 2010

busted book


For Christmas, my dear mother gave me a book I’d been wanting since I heard about it on NPR: Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction. The cover is beautiful, and I like all the stories so far, but I have to be very careful when I read it because none of the signatures inside the book have been sewn in. Can you believe that? The pages at the spine have perforations where it seems like the stitching would be, but there is none, and every time I open the book widely or at all, a group of pages slips out. I want to send an email to the publishers (Dalkey Archive) saying HELLO, you forgot to finish making this book, and now I can’t read it outside on windy days!

2 comments:

Martin Riker said...

Hi, I work for the publisher. This happens sometimes (very very rarely--only 2 or 3 times in the 11 years I've worked in publishing) with errors at the printer. We don't print the books ourselves; we have them printed at one of several (reputable!) printing houses in the US. I'm really sorry it happened to you but if you send me your address I'll send you an unbusted copy.

Best,
Martin
riker@dalkeyarchive.com

Silvia said...

Wow, thanks, Martin!