A little scientific book, entitled The Making and use of the Geometricall Instrument called a Sector . . . by Thomas Hood, 1598, has a list of errata headed Faultes escaped, with this note of the author or printer:—­

``Gentle reader, I pray you excuse these faults, because I finde by experience, that it is an harder matter to print these mathematicall books trew, then bookes of other discourse.’’ p 83

Arthur Hopton’s Baculum Geodticum sive Viaticum or the Geodeticall Staffe (1610), contains the following quaint lines at the head of the list of errata:—­

          ``The Printer to the Reader.
 ``For errours past or faults that scaped be,
     Let this collection give content to thee: 
 A worke of art, the grounds to us unknowne,
     May cause us erre, thoughe all our skill be showne. 
 When points and letters, doe containe the sence,
     The wise may halt, yet doe no great offence. 
 Then pardon here, such faults that do befall,
     The next edition makes amends for all.’’

Thomas Heywood, the voluminous dramatist, added to his Apology for Actors (1612) an interesting address to the printer of his tract, which, besides drawing attention to the printer’s dislike of his errors being called attention to in a table of errata, is singularly valuable for its reference to Shakespeare’s annoyance at Jaggard’s treatment of him by attributing to his pen Heywood’s poems from Great Britain’s Troy.

          ``To my approved good Friend,
               ``MR. NICHOLAS OKES.
     ``The infinite faults escaped in myp 84
booke of Britaines Troy by the negligence of the printer, as the misquotations, mistaking the sillables, misplacing halfe lines, coining of strange and never heard of words, these being without number, when
I would have taken a particular account of the errata, the printer answered me, hee would not publish his owne disworkemanship, but rather let his owne fault lye upon the necke of the author.  And being
fearefull that others of his quality had
beene of the same nature and condition,
and finding you, on the contrary, so
carefull and industrious, so serious and
laborious to doe the author all the rights of the presse, I could not choose but gratulate your honest indeavours with
this short remembrance.  Here, likewise,
I must necessarily insert a manifest injury done me in that worke, by taking the two epistles of Paris to Helen, and Helen
to Paris, and printing them in a lesse
volume under the name of another, which
may put the world in opinion I might
steale them from him, and hee, to doe
himselfe right, hath since published them
in his owne name; but as I must
acp 85knowledge my lines not worthy his
patronage under whom he hath publisht
them, so the author, I know, much offended with M. Jaggard (that altogether unknowne to him) presumed to make so bold with
his name.  These and the like dishonesties I knowe you to bee cleere of; and I could wish but to bee the happy author of so
worthy a worke as I could willingly commit to your care and workmanship.
          ``Yours ever, THOMAS HEYWOOD.’’