[Ads-l] Incorrect dates displayed in Internet Archive scans

[Jonathan Lighter]

I've seen this problem in Internet Archive as well, but only once or
twice in thousands of instances.

JL

On Mon, Oct 26, 2026 at 1:52 PM Rich Lowenthal
<000018596069864c-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> The initial copyright date is also incorrect: "1910" rather than "1960."
>
> There are also leather-bound copies of the book available on the
> Internet that cite the 1916 date. I would guess that the incorrect date
> is the result of poor scanning and OCR work, as is the case of many
> print-on-demand titles that come from India. The scanned copy also
> differs from the first edition in that it lacks the "all rights
> reserved" notice on the copyright page.
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From "ADSGarson O'Toole"
> <00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date 10/26/2026 12:40:27 PM
> Subject Incorrect dates displayed in Internet Archive scans
>
> >While searching in the Internet Archive I came across a novel with an
> >incorrect publication date. It is common to find mistakes in the
> >metadata of databases such as the Internet archive, Google Books,
> >newspapers.com, etc. But this situation was different and more
> >dangerous. The incorrect data appeared on a page scan of the book that
> >was supposed to display the correct publication data.
> >
> >The novel "A Burnt-Out Case" by Graham Greene was first published in
> >1960, but the publication date on the scan claimed that the book was
> >published in 1916.
> >
> >Incorrect Date on Page Scan: 1916
> >Actual First Publication Date: 1960
> >Book Title: A Burnt-Out Case
> >Author: Graham Greene
> >Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd, London
> >Book Source: Digital Library of India
> >https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.150016/page/n3/mode/2up?q=1916
> >
> >[Begin excerpt]
> >This English language edition first published 1916
> >[End excerpt]
> >
> >I think (and hope) this problem is rare. Have others seen this
> >problem? Can someone offer an explanation (on or off list)?
> >Garson
> >
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