Both of my Houghton Mifflin editions of LOTR, the 1991 Tolkien Centenary edition (with a cover illustration by Alan Lee of Frodo, Sam and Gollum hiding near the Gate of Mordor: http://www.amazon.com/The-Lord-Rings-J-Tolkien/dp/B001989FBC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1384112080&sr=8-2&keywords=tolkien+lord+of+the+rings+1991 ) and the 2001 movie tie-in (with a cover photo of a Nazgul on horseback at night: http://www.amazon.com/Rings-Movie-Edition-Tolkien-J-R-R/dp/B00DT6B2BS/ref=sr_1_135?ie=UTF8&qid=1384112203&sr=8-135&keywords=tolkien+lord+of+the+rings+2001 ), correctly say “Sam looked at it…” It’s p. 405 in the 1991 edition, and p. 375 in the 2001 edition.
Oddly, though, there are three errors in the appendices of the 2001 edition that aren’t in the 1991 edition…!
BigT
November 11, 2013, 2:41am
42
If this were a Tolkien original mistake, I’d expect that he’d go to great lengths to explain it, probably about how Sam and Same were variations on the same name in the original (a very common concept in old literature, especially the Bible).
I mean, he did that when he accidentally used an Elf name twice.
Malacandra:
No, it is the moon phase, as Filbert said, and he brings it up in conversation a day or so later. Someone else can track the quote down, but broadly speaking, he realizes a whole month must have passed while they were in Lothlorien, but he can’t believe the evidence of the skies, because he can remember several days but nothing like a month’s worth, and this leads to a discussion of the sensation of Time in an elven city.
I have always vividly recalled the phrase he used, and use it myself …“Up pops a New Moon, thin as a nail-paring”