The Genii Forum

Simply sharing what Jules told me.

I did not read "The Vernon Touch" columns when they were originally printed and I must say I have been thoroughly enjoying this compilation and the beautifully reproduced photographs. I'm sadly nearing the end.

I did want to mention that pages 379 and 380 which have Vernon's hand written notes on Leipzig's act are reversed. Otherwise, the production has been error free so far.

Not at all error free. Many of the photo captions are screwed up. No one cares however. The book is magnificent and worth far more than it costs.

I care, and I like to know what the corrections are to the photo captions so that when we reprint, we can correct them.

I've been slowly reading a few pages every few days. Having a strange sense of humor, some of the jarring seques (part of the charm), have set off a few black laughs. My favorite so far is on page 93:

"Larry ... (Grey) ... was from England originally. He did the Back-Hand Palm better than Clinton Burgess, better than [Paul] LePaul, better than anybody living. He committed suicide out here, as you may know."

I think I'll work on some other sleights.

I'd like to second Richard's comment. We care deeply about every error.

The book has over 280,000 words and hundreds of captions. Between Dai's erratic spellings, factual or descriptive inaccuracies and the detritis of OCR, there were literally thousands upon thousands of errors in the text that had to be corrected. Not only did we spell check the book many dozens of times, but it was proofread by numerous people.

Since publication, friends and colleagues have been kind enough to email us with their catches. So far, we have 14.

If some of the photo captions are "screwed up", we would truly appreciate it if you could point out the mistakes. I would be thrilled to call you and go over them, or exchange emails off the Forum to hear your corrections.

We are committed to making this important work as perfect as possible. Everyone involved, and there were many, wanted to produce a volume that the Professor would've been proud of.

Thank you again for your postings, and for reading so closely!

The original OCR scans were a nightmare. But thank goodness they were made.

Matt Field

David Ben told me not to mention any mistakes in "The Vernon Touch" in this forum but I don't listen when I get good advice. See how badly I screwed up the thread dealing with "other topics."

I will mention one --the woman shown on page 20 is not my mother as the caption identifies her.

Is this the proper place to list tiny errors in a marvelously produced book? Would not a more private forum be more appropriate?

Something magical is happening with the book. It appears to be fixing itself! I read above that pages 379 and 380 were printed backwards. Yet in my copy they are not.

Derek,

What he meant was the material on page 379 should have been on page 380 and the material on 380 should have been on page 379.

Also,the only copies of the book that I helped to edit did not have any of the photos...text only. I don't know who edited AFTER the pictures were added to the book.

Gary Plants

Mr. Verner,
I was part of the large team that put this book together. It was a great honor to be involved.

We would be extremely appreciative to learn about any errors or omissions you find. Your comments would be invaluable!

Rather than post your corrections here, I invite and encourage you, and anyone else reading this, to email me directly.

My email address is malbright@earthlink.net

Or you can use the small icon (above) that looks like an envelope and that'll do the trick too.

Alternatively, Mr. Verner, if you email me your phone number I would be thrilled to go over everything with you personally to save you the time of writing. Whatever is easiest for you.

Thank you for taking the time to help. It will make the next version of the book even better, and that's what we want!

PS: Please thank Mr. Ben for his wise, and thoughtful, advice.

Speaking as someone who bought the book, I'd very much appreciate the compiled list of factual corrections being made available to all.

Might this be done?

Ted,
Happily.

Other than what Mr. Verner might point out, here's a complete list of all the factual errors we have found so far:

On page 275 the caption says, "1942." It should say, "1932."

When I have compiled the other revisions, I will make sure to advise everyone of anything significant.

Hope this helps.

Very keen; thanks. I look forward to more as they are discovered!

Damn. I just looked at the book and said "what a great book" now I am being asked to
point out microscopic problems. In anything ever published there are minor mistakes. It is not my place to point these out. It is my place to say how thrilled I am to have seen a book so well produced. If you insist on my "adjustments" it should be offline.

Mr. Verner,
My apologies. Earlier you said the book was "far from error free" and that many of the captions are "screwed up." That did not sound microscopic to me. Nor has our team nor our readers been able to find a plethora of errors. We have found 13 typos and 1 factual error, excluding the item about your Mother you mentioned earlier.

I was simply saying that we would be enormously grateful to you--or anyone--who points out mistakes so they can be corrected next time. Several times now I've mentioned that we can take care of this offline--probably in a matter of a few minutes. If you'd rather not, no worries.

Following up on my last posting, Mr. Verner and Mr. Ben were kind enough to send us their comments and corrections pertaining to a number of captions in the book. Neither individual has gone through the volume with a fine tooth comb, but they obviously spent some serious time putting together their feedback and it is extremely appreciated. It was very generous and thoughtful. Their valuable and unique input will certainly help make the next edition even more desirable.

In the coming weeks and months, I am hopeful to receive even more input from the community. When we have a fairly definitive list of revisions, I will let everyone know.

Thanks to both Mr. Ben and Mr. Verner for contributing!

I tend to speak bigger than I mean. There are no mistakes in the 'VERNON TOUCH' other than a few that I noticed on my first reading. I hate the fact that I am positioned here as a critic of a book that I have no problems with. The book is brilliant, and I feel that if I am so petty to point out things I may disagree with I should not be listened to.

I did find it bad that someone other than my mother was identified incorrectly. Damn it, I knew who my own mother was. She may have had very little regard for magicians but she was my mom and she did like some of the greatest magicians you ever read about. If I live long enough I WILL tell you abought this stuff.

I can't find it just now, but there is a picture of the professor holding the hand of some ugly rugrat. The caption identifies the rugrat as his father. I am sure this caption error has been caught by others. I only mention it so that you not think my grandfather was two feet tall.

have none of you found the picture I referred to in the above post? Are you not reading this book with the seriousness it deserves?

If you mean the one on page 99, I think most people have assumed that the young boy is the Professor, and the man is your grandfather.

Take care, Ian

Hi Mr. Albright, page 275 contains the Vernon silhouette of F.D.R., and the silhouette is dated 1932. Wasn't that the year Vernon cut that silhouette? Isn't that date correct?

Ian

With all the pictures of Dai throughout the book (at every age) how could anyone think the child was Vernon?

The picture is captioned as Dai and his father. The article on that page describes his father telling him about Erdnase. The book is about Dai. The man in the photo does not look to me like Dai (although I never met him, I'm going by other photos I've seen, and a hunch. He just doesn't look like him to me - perhaps it's the shape of his nose).

Could you describe your grandfather as a young man - did he look a lot different to the man in the photo?

I think it would be understandable to assume it was Dai and his father.

Take care, Ian

The man on the left is my father. I have no idea who the kid is. To my way of thinking this picture of Dai looks exactly like dozens of others throughout the book (note the ubiquitous cigarette.) Also, it is usual to name people in the caption in the same order as they appear in the picture from left to right (Except in China and Israel)

I gave pics to David Ben but he never used them. My grandfather had a huge handlebar moustache and was very much a member of the early nineteeth century. The picture under discussion is very much of the twentieth century. Trust me on this, I know when I see a picture of my father or mother.
Has no one replied to my timorous identification of one of the Grippo brothers?

One of the Grippos was the inspiration for "Eagle Eye Fleagle" in the Li'l Abner comic strip, As a hypnotist Mr. Grippo would hynotise opposing fighters into losing.

The instant the ad appeared for this beautiful book, I called up and placed my order. I have read it from cover to cover and re-read it again! :) I am a HUGE Vernon fan and this book satisfied my desire to spend quality time with the Professor!

My favourite story in the book appears on the left hand colomn of page 359! Lol

I must bring back this topic and say how AMAZING this book is! I have been waiting for it for a while and finally placed my order. MAN i should have done it sooner!

EXCELLENT JOB!

Glad you folks enjoyed it. A lot of the credit goes to Michael Albright, without whom it probably wouldn't have been finished for another decade.

Peter(Jak) I completely agree with you. This book has become one of my favourites in my library. Are you a member of Ring 17 by the way, bro?