The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Bizarre Edition of The Taste of Bread

Caperchick's picture
Caperchick

Bizarre Edition of The Taste of Bread

I decided to take the plunge and treat myself to two new bread books.  So I bought Jeffrey Hamelman's "A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes", and "The Taste of Bread" by Raymond Calvel.

I got them from Amazon and decided not to open the package until I was enjoying my morning hot, organic Italian Coffee.  What a treat this would be!!  Jeffrey Hamelman's book is terrific.  "A Taste Of Bread" was horrific.  Somehow, much to my dismay, the contents of the book were replaced by a text book called "The Rise Of Experimental Biology"!  In other words......Course 101 on autopsies and victorian grave robbers.  The cover was correct but the book itself had been replaced by something to show at Hallowe'en.

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this.

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Wow, amazing misprint.  I wonder if that might be worth something as a collector's edition?

If not, you sure could write a very interesting review at Amazon!

BTW, they are pretty good about returns and am guessing they will pay for the return trip.

hansjoakim's picture
hansjoakim

Indeed, what an over-the-top misprint... :D

Perhaps you should hold on to that and try to milk it on e-bay? People collect all kinds of weird things these days: For instance, Lennon's toilet from his Berkshire residence went for £9,500 at an auction recently (link). Who wouldn't want to fork out for autopsy 101 disguised as "Taste of bread"?

Caperchick's picture
Caperchick

LOL

I somehow don't think It would be worth much...........it wouldn't garner the same amount of interest as anything even a loo belonging to John Lennon!  Good Idea though.

Regards...........Lyn

Caperchick's picture
Caperchick

I do plan a review on Canadian Amazon soon.  I've already printed the return label.  It was for a good price $103 Canadian including shipping.  I don't know if I'd try to order another one. Maybe they're printing these books off shore or maybe it was just the end or beginning of a run.

Thanks for the reply.............Lyn

Rodger's picture
Rodger

I'm a bookseller by trade.  My profession has recently been infected by purveyors of "print-on-demand" editions, which are effectively Kinko-produced photocopies with cheapo covers of obscure texts borrowed from the library or downloaded off Google or who knows where.  I'm not sure how the mechanics of the business works, but I certainly see their listings frequently enough.

Could it be that you received one of these, and that the on-demand printer switched your copy of Calvel with the offending text?

Caperchick's picture
Caperchick

I don't think it was, as it was ordered from Amazon.  How would one tell?

The publishing world is full of charletons just like many other sellers.  Buyer beware I guess.  Like the saying "If it's too good to be true" it probably is!!!

Regards..............Lyn

Rodger's picture
Rodger

I checked out the listing on Amazon.  The publisher is listed as "Springer,"  which is probably the giant academic and business publisher based in Berlin, Germany.  So it is probably just a crazy error.  Return it for a good copy. 

By the way, I notice that substantial passages from The Taste of Bread are available on Google Books.  The publisher on the copyright page in the Google edition is Aspen, a subsidiary of the German firm Kluwer, which bought Springer in 2003.