Bare-Faced Messiah was separately published in the United
Kingdom (cloth and paperback), Canada, Australia, and the United States.
Each publisher produced a distinct text -- usually by accident, but
sometimes intentionally, as was the case for the U.S. edition.
This "web edition" was transcribed from what Russell Miller regards
as definitive: the cloth edition published by Penguin subsidiary Michael
Joseph in the United Kingdom on 22 October 1987. As with its cousins,
the web edition too reflects the indiosyncracies of its editors. In
particular, a number of trivial errors found in the cloth edition have
been noted or corrected. The intentional alterations to the text of the
U.K. edition are listed below. (The reader, it is hoped, will forgive
the accidental ones.)
Chapter 1
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 12):
May did not have long to wait for the 'blessed event'. She went into
labour during the afternoon of Sunday 10 March, . . .
In the web edition:
Because 10 March 1911 fell on a Friday, the correct weekday
is substituted.
Chapter 4
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 66):
In 1934, with the country still in the stranglehold of the
Depression, . . . Frank Gruber, the only pulp writer resident
when Ron arrived, accurately characterized his fellow quests as
'all-round no-goods and deadbeats'.
In the web edition:
"guests" is spelled correctly.
Chapter 5
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 89):
The 'expedition' departed its Yukon Harbor 'base' in July, with May,
Marnie, Toilie and Midge and their various children waving
farewell from the quayside. . . .
In the web edition:
"Midgie" is the familiar name of Hubbard's aunt.
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 94):
'He writes under six names in a diversity of fields from political
economy to action fiction and if he would make at least one of his pen
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names public he would have little difficult entering anywhere. He
has published many millions of words and some fourteen movies.
In the web edition:
Because it is not clear whether "difficulty" was misquoted in the
book or misspelled by Senator Ford, the author of the letter being
quoted here, this spelling error was not corrected.
Chapter 12
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 202):
The word Scientology was derived from the Latin scio
. . . twenty years earlier in 1934, a German scholar by the
name of Dr A Nordenholz had written an obscure work of
philosophical speculation . . .
In the web edition:
A period follows the initial "A", in conformance with punctuation in
the rest of the book.
Chapter 15
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 248):
On 5 January, L. Ron Hubbard issued a statement from Saint Hill
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Manor: 'All I can make of this is that the United States Government
. . . has launched an attack upon religion and is seizing and
burning books of philosophy . . . Where will this end?
Complete censorship? A complete ignoring of the First Amendment? Are
churches to be attached and books burned as a normal course of
action?'
In the web edition:
Because it is not clear whether "attacked" was misquoted in the book
or misspelled in Hubbard's quoted statement, this spelling error was
not corrected.
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 250):
At Saint Hill Manor, Hubbard at first professed himself to be
pleased about the Australian inquiry and even hinted that it bad been
set up at his instigation. But it soon became evident that the inquiry
was basically antagonistic to Scientology and when an invitation arrived
from Melbourne from him to appear, he contrived to find
compelling reasons to refuse.
In the web edition:
"for him to appear".
Chapter 16
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 266):
It was important for Hubbard to be discovered in this dramatically
debilitated condition at this time, . . . Hubbard, it was
said, was the 'first person in millions of years' to map a precise route
through the 'Wall of Fire'. Having done so, his OT power has been
increased to such an extent that he was at grave risk of accidental
injury to his body; indeed, he had broken his back, a knee and an arm
during the course of his research.
In the web edition:
"had been increased".
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 271):
While Hubbard was fulminating against international conspiracies
. . . He immediately
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instructed von Staden and Pool to start negotiating the purchase
and to make arrangements for the Royal Scotsman . . .
In the web edition:
von Staden and Pook
Chapter 17
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 290):
The harbourmaster quickly grasped the message, . . .
Appraised of this warm welcome, the Commodore began to look upon the
island and the Greek people with particular favour, even to the extent
of granting an interview . . . on the subject of the recent
coup d'etat in Greece . . .
In the web edition:
"coup d'état" (with acute accent, as elsewhere in the
book)
Chapter 18
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 298):
In frequent communiqués from the ship . . . Out in
the Atlantic, cruising on his flagship, the Commodore's
pre-occupatioon with Communist conspiracies . . .
In the web edition:
"pre-occupation" is spelled correctly.
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 302):
From 1970 onwards, messengers attended Hubbard day and night,
. . . When he was asleep, two messenger sat outside his
state-room . . .
In the web edition:
"two messengers", plural
Chapter 19
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 321):
To the relief of the entire crew, the Commodore was more or less
recovered . . . and the ship resumed its aimless wandering,
this time on a triangular course bettween Portugal, Madeira and
the Canaries. . . .
In the web edition:
"between" is spelled correctly.
Chapter 20
Original paragraph from the U.K. edition
(page 342):
Overland Avenue was a wide tree-lined street . . . Special
decoder equipment was installed to provide direct secure
communicatirons with Clearwater and the Guardian's Office
. . .
