Alphabetical Africa Errata: an Updated List

My previous post on Walter Abish's Alphabetical Africa contained an introduction to the book and its unique constraint, a few remarks on what I thought of it, a table of all the errata I'd either seen elsewhere or found myself, and a list of possible corrections for them.

Now Johnathan Arnold, in a comment on that post has vastly expanded the list to the point where I am putting it up here in a separate post.

A reminder of Alphabetical Africa's constraint: The first half of the book consists of 26 chapters, labeled A through Z. The first chapter contains only words beginning with A; the second contains words beginning with A and B; the third words beginning with A, B and C; and so on up until Z, in which any word may appear. The second half of the book, also 26 chapters long, reverses the process. The chapters are labeled Z through A; Z uses any words; Y uses any words save those beginning with Z; X uses any words save those beginning with Y or Z, and so on back through the final chapter, A, which again uses only words beginning with A. (Again, there's more, including a few example passages, in the earlier post.)

That's the idea, anyway. But it turns out there are at least 40 50 and counting (!) departures from that schema. Here is a complete list of all the ones I know of, from all the various sources I've seen:

Chapter/Page	Error	Phrase
A1, p. 2	premature I	Alex and Allen alone, arrive in Abidjan...
D1, p. 9	premature H	...because Chester cannot hear Dogon birds chirp:
D1, p. 9	premature O	biu, biu, biu, or Dogon dogs bark:
D1, p. 9	premature O	bow, bow, bow, or antelopes:
G1, p. 15	premature I	Are Germans convincing in Africa?
H1, p. 18	premature O	...a bridge or an airport...
H1, p. 18	premature O	...a book, or a husky German...
H1, p. 18	premature O	...doors. One hundred and fifty...
H1, p. 19	premature L	...he chatters a lot...
I1, p. 21	premature U	I used to draw Alva.
J1, p. 26	premature L	...as long as he could.
K1, p. 27	premature N	...he could design a new colony...
L1, p. 30	premature O	...finds a lot of lakes...
L1, p. 31	premature S	...being a compulsive liar she lies about him
M1, p. 32	premature T	He appeared to have been a middle-aged man.
M1, p. 32	premature T	He had gone to a hotel.
N1, p. 34	premature O	I am afraid of loving her...
N1, p. 35	premature S	...everything, even all sounds, heavy, dark...
N1, p. 35	premature O	Each moment is a kind of impermanent...
N1, p. 35	premature O	...my favorite map of another African country...
O1, p. 38	premature P	...I promise her.
P1, p. 39	premature T [arguable]	...part-time only...
P1, p. 40	premature S	"...not invented anything I've seen or done."
Q1, p. 42	premature T	I am convinced that people...
R1, p. 46	premature T [arguable]	After a bit of rough-and-tumble...
V1, p. 58	premature W	...from the eastern and western edges...
W1, p. 59	premature Y	...had we been here a hundred years ago...
V2, p. 87	belated W	The children are at school when the mailman arrives...
V2, p. 88	belated W	...preferably at a time when her children...
U2, p. 91	belated W	...one rapid sweep with a pen...
U2, p. 92	belated W	...laughing men with unpronounceable names...
T2, p. 93	belated W	When Boyd discovered this...
T2, p. 94	belated W	...they meet men who are transplanting Africa.
T2, p. 95	belated W	...have come to terms with African emotions.
T2, p. 97	belated W	He walks as far as the gates of the consulate.
S2, p. 99	belated T	...Miti Safu Safu is a line of trees....
P2, p. 112	belated Q	"An hour later drums mysteriously become quiet..."
N2, p. 117	belated O	...both ends of caravan...
K2, p. 123	belated L	Like everything else...
k2, p. 123	belated L	...it conceals all hope for life by...
J2, p. 126	belated L	...as I dig a large hole...
J2, p. 127	belated L	Alex and Allen left for Africa...
F2, p. 138	belated I	...boosted an innovative design...
E2, p. 140	belated H	...Alva, her deletions are...
E2, p. 140	belated H	...accepts her corrections.
E2, p. 140	belated F	...book buyers for Emperor...
C2, p. 146	belated I	After considering all alternatives, I capture a couple crocodiles.
C2, p. 147	belated I	After I cross a...
C2, p. 147	belated D	...bag containing Alva's description.
B2, p. 148	belated C	...afraid ants can't be beaten.

Phew! That's a lot. I must admit that somewhere between 20 and 40 errors my feelings about them slip from "everyone makes mistakes" to "that's sloppy work". Assuming that they're not deliberate (and I don't think they are, based on both internet rumor about Abish's reaction to one being pointed out, and my judgment of how they seem (although obviously I could be wrong about this)), then I have to say that this mars the book in a substantial way.

In the earlier post I came up with patches for the eighteen or so I'd seen then... but another 24 takes the wind out of my sails. If anyone has patches for these, feel free to leave 'em in comments. And please do leave any further errors you see -- I will add them to the above chart once I see them.

Update (07/10/2011): Three more added from comments. Update (02/07/2012): And five more, plus a correction. Thanks! Keep 'em coming, everyone!