F.A. 472 [1977], Eithel Sirion [p. 190]. Host of Fingon, asssembled [cf. 1978]. Very great, well hid.

Not sure if this error is formally noted anywhere. Will record here.

The Silmarillion (1977), p. 190, l. 17:

For there all the Noldor of Hithlum were asssembled  

Chpt. XX ‘Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad’

Not listed in Hammond & Anderson's J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography (St Paul's Bibliographies / Oak Knoll Books, 1993, pp. 215–216); either unidentified or unrecorded. I see it being cited—occasionally, but I think increasingly—in booksellers' listings for 1977 first edition copies of The Silmarillion; claims of priority are made, but I believe these to be spurious.

What can a single printing error tell us?

A cursory shelf-grab of 1977 copies confirms the error—an extra ‘s’ in assembled—is present in Clowes variants, Billing variants, seconds, fourths, fifths, book clubs, and Methuens. In other words, the error is present in all copies examined. Therefore, in isolation, this error tells us nothing about priority of printing in respect to 1977 variants. It would appear to finally have been corrected in the 1999 (so-called) ‘Second Edition’. It is still present, for example, in the 1998 Nasmith illustrated edition.

1978 Hb (BCA) — 1979 Pb (Unwin)

Not so all pre-1999 editions. When BCA reset the text for their 1978 ‘reprint club’ edition the error was corrected (p. 216); therefore, the family of texts deriving from this typesetting are (or should be) free from this error. The typesetting was also reset a year later for the first paperback edition (1979); the error is similarly not present (p. 229) and again should be absent from the family of texts derived from this typesetting. (I quickly checked later book club and later paperback editions and this seems to hold true.)

This type of error falls most readily under the definition of ‘typographical’ error—unlike the majority of those listed by Hammond & Anderson (pp. 215–216)—since it was undoubtedly introduced during typesetting. The source is unlikely to have been authorial.

 

Also on SILMARILLION MINUTIAE

❆ Proof of Typesetting: Fëanáro[.] and Ulmo's Troublesome Italics