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The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene edition



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 25th 07, 01:33 AM posted to rec.collecting.books
Ferris92
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Posts: 4
Default The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene edition

I own two versions of Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory and
taking them both out I noticed that they had some odd discrepancies.
Even in the first sentence, one edition had a comma and the other a
colon. And in the next sentence there are "vultures" referred to and
in the other edition
"buzzards." I was sort of taken aback. Is this common? Who makes
these changes?

Thanks for the help.

Ads
  #2  
Old May 25th 07, 02:24 AM posted to rec.collecting.books
John R. Yamamoto-Wilson
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Default The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene edition

Ferris92 wrote:

I own two versions of Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory
and taking them both out I noticed that they had some odd
discrepancies. Even in the first sentence, one edition had
a comma and the other a colon. And in the next sentence
there are "vultures" referred to and in the other edition
"buzzards." I was sort of taken aback. Is this common?
Who makes these changes?


It sounds as if one is a British English edition and the other an
American edition. Is that right?

John
  #3  
Old May 25th 07, 02:31 AM posted to rec.collecting.books
Ferris92
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Posts: 4
Default The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene edition



I will expose myself as a naif:

Is it common for books written in English to have an American edition
and a British edition in which there are differences in text besides
the idiosyncrasies in spelling?

  #4  
Old May 25th 07, 02:42 AM posted to rec.collecting.books
John R. Yamamoto-Wilson
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Posts: 80
Default The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene edition

Ferris92 wrote:

Is it common for books written in English to have an American
edition and a British edition in which there are differences
in text besides the idiosyncrasies in spelling?


I don't know how far back the practice goes, or how universally it
applies, but I think it's fairly common. For example, Harry Potter and
the Philosopher's Stone became Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
when it was "translated" into American, and there were other differences
in the text, reflecting American usage.

I suppose there might sometimes be other changes than the strictly
"necessary" ones, either because the author sees a chance to edit
his/her work in preparation for an edition on the other side of the
Atlantic, or because such changes are made (or recommended/requested) by
the publisher's editors.

John

  #5  
Old May 25th 07, 05:17 PM posted to rec.collecting.books
William M. Klimon
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Posts: 31
Default The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene edition

On May 24, 9:31 pm, Ferris92 wrote:

Is it common for books written in English to have an American edition
and a British edition in which there are differences in text besides
the idiosyncrasies in spelling?


I spoke with Rick Gekoski about this phenomenon a few years ago. His
recent collection of book-dealing tales was entitled TOLKIEN'S GOWN in
the Brit edition but NABOKOV'S BUTTERFLY in the U.S. edition. The
publisher told him that Americans wouldn't understand that the
reference was to Tolkien's academic gown and NOT to his dressing gown
or bathrobe (although, with Tolkien's popularity, why even that
mattered I don't know).

Rick said he hates the U.S. title--I think more on principle than
because it's a bad title, which it isn't. But it has led to the weird
circumstance where Amazon UK offers to sell you both editions as if
they were two different books:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1845292391


wklimon

  #6  
Old May 26th 07, 05:37 AM posted to rec.collecting.books
Jim[_2_]
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Posts: 39
Default The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene edition

And there's a P.G. Wodehouse book which has a different first chapter
in its American and British incarnations!

  #7  
Old May 26th 07, 06:19 PM posted to rec.collecting.books
Don Phillipson
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Posts: 41
Default The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene edition

"Ferris92" wrote in message
ps.com...

Is it common for books written in English to have an American edition
and a British edition in which there are differences in text besides
the idiosyncrasies in spelling?


Yes.
Anthony Burgess has written bitterly about the
readiness of US publishers to change the content
of books published elsewhere. Burgess complains
the US publisher of A Clockwork Orange suppressed
a whole chapter of the English book (without telling
the author?)

Canadian authors often complained 1950-80 that
US publishers told them to revise books about ordinary
rural or urban life in contemporary Canada so that
they purported to be about US cities and places.
Before 1950 it seems the (few) Canadian authors
complied, as the price of publication: and more
recently US publishers may have found it unnecessary.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)



  #8  
Old June 1st 07, 04:01 PM posted to rec.collecting.books
Jim[_2_]
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Posts: 39
Default The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene edition

On May 25, 12:17 pm, "William M. Klimon" wrote:

I spoke with Rick Gekoski about this phenomenon a few years ago. His
recent collection of book-dealing tales was entitled TOLKIEN'S GOWN in
the Brit edition but NABOKOV'S BUTTERFLY in the U.S. edition.

Rick said he hates the U.S. title--I think more on principle than
because it's a bad title, which it isn't. But it has led to the weird
circumstance where Amazon UK offers to sell you both editions as if
they were two different books:


I saw the U.S. version, and almost bought it, thinking it was a
"sequel" to the one I already had!

 




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