The British cover of Jonathan Franzen's Freedom

An Associated Press wire story says corrected copies of the UK version of Jonathan Franzen‘s Freedom have already been printed and are being rushed to stores by his UK publisher, HarperCollins imprint Fourth Estate. But as a Publishers Lunch report by Michael Cader observed yesterday — and as MobyLives has been saying for days and days — “After Further Apologies, Franzen Misprint Still Doesn’t Make Sense.” As Cader notes, what still doesn’t make sense is that “the publisher continues to blame the typesetter, Palimpsest, for sending the wrong file to the printer–implying that the publisher didn’t send final files, or review proofs before going to press.” (See yesterday’s MobyLives report for a more detailed discussion of why this seems, well, ridiculous.)

Meanwhile, another report from the Bookseller says Franzen told an audience in Dublin yesterday that “if you haven’t read the book, what I would like to do is tear out the title page, I would be happy to sign that. Exchange the book for the right one which will be available by Monday, Tuesday at the latest and read that one instead. If you have already read the book, I will sign it but actually not happily.”