[HPforGrownups] Heir v Descendant

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 1564

Penny wrote, re ancestor vs descendant:

>3.  Now I find that the paperback version is back to using "ancestor" 
>instead of "descendant." Did they "set" the paperback version from one of 
>the earliest hardback versions where that "error" was still in place?  Or, 
>did JKR and/or Bloomsbury tell Scholastic to change it back to "ancestor"???

To my mind the reference to ancestor has to have been an error.  The
theories required to explain it otherwise would just be too bizarre (even by
my standards) and, even if there was a plausible reason for saying ancestor,
wouldn't Harry have said to Dumbledore: "Last remaining ANCESTOR?  How can
that be?"  Also, for JKR, it would have been underplaying a rather
mind-blowing revelation.

Now, the reason for the error being repeated may have something to do with
where the books were printed.  I'm sure Nick posted something about
Bloomsbury's "Goblet of Fire" containing errors (missing words) in some
printings  - not editions - because two different printers were used in the
UK.  In the case of CoS, perhaps some US reprintings were done at a printer
that still had a master with the word 'ancestor' and hadn't changed it.
Mind you, it beggars belief that this error hasn't been corrected, since it
has been one of the most discussed puzzles among HP fans and I think it's
highly likely that someone has already told Scholastic and Bloomsbury about it.

My paperback Bloomsbury CoS, 20th printing, by Clays of St Ives, has the
word ancestor.

Neil

            Flying-Ford-Anglia

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   "Then, dented, scratched and steaming, 
   the car rumbled off into the darkness, 
   its rear lights blazing angrily"

 [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]

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