I have really enjoying Bart van Es's prize winning book The cut our girl. I was surprised, however, to find on page 209 what appears to be a mistake.
Half way down the page he begins a new paragraph
On the desk in my hotel room lies a second sheath of papers.
Surely that should be
On the desk in my hotel room lies a second sheaf of papers.
Professor Paul Brians of Wahington State is with me on this. (If you take your knife out of its sheath (case) you can use it to cut a sheaf (bundle) of wheat to serve as a centerpiece.) It is apparently a common error and yet this is written by a Professor of English Literature at Oxford University and appears in a Penguin paperback. I have contacted him and he confesses embarrassment. We've all been there.
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