I imagine if not originally dictated, his draft was hand written and submitted directly for typesetting. While possibly Mencken's errors, a linotype operator b

I imagine if not originally dictated, his draft was hand written and submitted directly for typesetting. While possibly Mencken's errors, a linotype operator botching a slug or an editor misreading a partially open 'a' wouldn't be the severe error it is today in the age of autocorrect and instantaneous type production. When you post a comment, there's just a screen between you and all of the internet and its information. Mencken might have had weeks or months and a dozen people's hands between his review and its printing. Not to mention reprintings, revisions, and the eventual OCR close to a century later.