Throw in the illegible handwriting of, say, a Beethoven, or a composer who makes changes on routinely tossed publisher's proofs but neglects to enter them on the original manuscript, as well as the inevitable errors endemic to the typesetting and printing process itself, and the vagaries of the score-publishing process become manifest.

WSJ: Ravel| Mother Goose| New York Philharmonic| Arbie Orenstein

As for the crudities of hot-metal typesetting and letter-press printing, all these have long been superseded by electronic setting (in which a 1970s managing director, Ian Trafford, was a pioneer, and made The Economist one too), and by the stunning quality of modern offset printing.

ECONOMIST: Our paper in the 1930s: Ninety-plus, and still young | The

He became general manager of Donnelley's typesetting business in 1984, got his first job running a printing plant in 1987 and his first position running an entire region for Donnelley in 1993.

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He became general manager of Donnelley's typesetting business in 1984, got his first job running a printing plant in 1987 and got his first position running an entire region for Donnelley in 1993.

FORBES: Companies & Strategies