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Wellingtonian Paul Smith learnt the lesson of not judging a book by its cover the hard way after an online order gone wrong left him a novel with the correct cover – but a different book inside.
In mid-May, Smith ordered a Penguin Classics copy of the classic children’s adventure novel Treasure Island from Mighty Ape for $12.
When his order arrived a number of days later, the cover was of Treasure Island by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson – however, inside were the pages of The Art of War, an ancient Chinese military treatise written by the Eastern Zhou era general Sun Tzu.
The book has appeared in both sides of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, according to the Global Times, and is on the suggested reading list for the US Marine Corps, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The 54-year-old says the mix-up came as a shock.
“In my long life to date, I’ve never, ever had that happen before,” Smith says.
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Don’t judge a book by its cover: Mighty Ape delivers right book with wrong pages.
He says he bought the book after being inspired by his “widely read” daughters to engage in more reading.
“I was trying to widen my literary experiences,” he says.
“I really like those popular Penguin books because I’m autistic, and I like having half a dozen of them arranged on my bookshelf because they’ve all got the same spine.”
Penguin Random House NZ’s Head of Marketing and Publicity, Becky Innes, says pages and covers are printed separately before being attached, “so occasionally things do go wrong at the printers”.
Asked if he planned to read The Art of War now that its in his hands, Smith responded by saying “nah, it doesn’t interest me”.
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Penguin Random House NZ’s Head of Marketing and Publicity, Becky Innes, says pages and covers are printed separately before being attached, “so occasionally things do go wrong at the printers”.
“I’ve given it to [his daughter] Cody, it’s her Christmas present,” he says.
As Mighty Ape didn’t have any more stock of the book, they gave Smith a full refund of $12.
Now, he’s planning on grabbing a copy of Treasure Island from his local Paper Plus, a happy ending for Smith’s saga.
“I’m happy, Mighty Ape is happy, Paper Plus has got some extra business – it’s a win for everyone,” he says.
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