
For rare book collectors, a 1926 first edition of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” commands around $2,500. However, when you have an edition that, on page 181, line 26, contains the word “stopped” printed with three Ps, then you’ll be $60,000 richer. This is not uncommon: misprints often skyrocket a rare book’s value.
For example, in 1631, some 1,000 copies of the King James Bible suggested the seventh of the ten commandments was “Thou shalt commit adultery,” putting its value at around $100,000. A first edition of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” which saw the mix-up of the word “saw” and “was”, could garner you $18,600. In the business world, however, content errors can cause irreparable damage to a company. This was further explained by Gavin Drake, vice president of marketing at Quark Enterprise Solutions, who claimed such types of errors happen regularly. “The reason is simple: a lack of rigour and control in the content lifecycle driven by inefficient and outdated processes. So what’s the answer?” Apparently the answer is to keep a vigilant look-out and not do the “silly mistakes” that cost these six companies quite a lot of money.(1) NASA
In 1962 NASA’s first interplanetary probe Mariner 1, which was intended to explore Venus, never left the hemisphere – and the reason why is far less complex than expected. This cost NASA $80m.Eight of the most expensive mistakes in business history
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Ever heard of “The Pasta Bible”? Well a one-word slip in the recipe book ensured the publisher lost $20,000 as it had to recall thousands of copies from stores across the country due to international outrage. “It can’t be that bad, surely,” you say. It can when your tagliatelle recipe calls for “freshly ground black people”.Share this story