Errors and Omissions

Waiting for Godot's correction

An article in The Arts on April 13 about Barney Rosset, the publisher who brought Samuel Beckett's work to the United States, misstated the terms of his deal to publish "Waiting for Godot." Grove Press, which Mr. Rosset owned, agreed to a contract with Les Éditions de Minuit, Beckett's French publisher, that called for a $200 advance — not $150 — for "Godot" (and $400 advances for the novels "Molloy" and "Malone Dies"). The deal also included a 7.5 percent royalty for the first 3,000 copies of "Godot" that were sold and 10 percent thereafter (along with an additional 2.5 percent for the translation). The royalty was not 2.5 percent.

The article also included a quotation from Mr. Rosset in which he said that Les Éditions de Minuit had said that Grove Press could not publish "Waiting for Godot." According to Georges Borchardt, a literary agent who negotiated the contract, Minuit was delighted to make the deal.

This correction was delayed by a reporting lapse. (Go to Article)

Frank Prial wrote the offending article (and by extension, committed the "reporting lapse." He also made errors in a recent obituary of Paris restaurateur Claude Terrail. That's two recent Times articles with significant mistakes (refer to this post). Mr. Prial, consider yourself on notice.

posted by Unknown @ 6/20/2006 08:46:00 AM