Talk:The House in Turk Street

Article name change

Hello. Just changed the name of this article to, "The House in Turk Street," the in replacing on. I did this while looking at the Vintage Books edition of "The Continental Op." (You can verify for yourself @ Amazon) Hammett is one of my favorite authors, and ever since I read the story, I've wondered about the in/not/on question. I assume that it's a figure of speech that's no longer used. That's amusing and interesting because the opening scene is set in a room furnished in Victorian style, long out of date in the 1920s, the story's setting. Cheers Tapered (talk) 06:28, 26 February 2017 (UTC)

Strongly disagree with moving the title back. If you visit Amazon, and click the "Look Inside" of the book link in the upper left, you'll find "IN" written in the title of the story. The title, as written/printed in the book needs to override anything in anyone else's descriptions, litcrit, etc. Unfortunately, copyrights for works before 1978 are not available from the Library of Congress copyright online archives. Tapered (talk) 00:21, 27 February 2017 (UTC)

Just checked—this article comes up #3 on google search for "The House on Turk Street." I think that's a good enough ranking to leave it place. I'll keep track of the search numbers. Tapered (talk) 02:27, 27 February 2017 (UTC)

Just read legal data page of "The Continental Op," Vintage/Random House 1974. Owned a copy for many years, never looked at page. The copyright is in Lillian Hellman's name as executrix. Since her name is 'on' the paperwork, "in" is incontrovertible. Tapered (talk) 03:15, 28 February 2017 (UTC)

Recapitulation—complete case to retain "In"

1. The table of contents of "The Continental Op," published by Penguin Random House shows the story as "The House inTurk Street," easily accessible at the Amazon.com website.

2. There are 2 likely reasons for the use of "in" rather than "on": a typographical error, or a very archaic usage of American English that was part of the original title.

3. Lillian Hellman was the executrix for at least the literary part of Dashiell Hammett's estate (this information from the 'business information' page of "The Continental Op"). She would have been consulted for the 1974 publication, and would have looked it over, probably carefully. She wrote an introduction for "The Big Knockover" compendium of Hammett stories, published by Random House in 1972. The introduction shows devotion to his memory.

4. Random House proofreaders and executives also would have looked at the book, with varying degrees of attention.

5. From the above, I conclude the odds are short that none of these examiners noticed the oddly spelled word, "in." And from this I conclude that in is part of the original title, left as is in post 1970s editions. Tapered (talk) 23:09, 28 February 2017 (UTC)