One of Larry’s avocations is collecting and selling first editions of 20th century poetry and fiction. He owns a first edition of A.E. Housman’s Last Poems. Researching this on ABE, he found the following information in the book’s description by Grant Richards Ltd.
“Housman was fastidious about punctuation & was annoyed by the omission of punctuation marks in the first two lines of the poem on p. 52. However, when the publisher offered to insert an errata slip in the remaining copies, Housman replied: No, don’t put in an errata slip. The blunder will probably enhance the value of the 1st edition in the eyes of bibliophiles, an idiotic class.”
And so Larry’s copy with its two missing commas is enhanced. Or should I say, “And so Larry’s copy, with its two missing commas, is enhanced.”?