So, back in 05, I ordered a copy of The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy from Amazon. The book arrived. Sometime later I was reading it and discovered that, lo and behold, it was missing pages 529-560. After some consternation and thought I realized indeed the pages were gone. I wrote Del Rey books, to see if they’d replace it. Today I get this, headers included to show you it sure as heck wasn’t stuck on my end:

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Subject: RE: Douglas Adams - The Ultumate Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy w/ missing pages....
Date: Fri, 9 May 2008 17:20:56 -0400
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Thread-Topic: Douglas Adams - The Ultumate Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy w/ missing pages....
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From: "Del Rey"
To: "Michael Loftis"
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Dear Michael,

We sincerely apologize, and will replace the book as soon as possible. Please
send us the defective book so that we can give it to our production
department to prevent future errors. Please send the book to:

Del Rey Books
c/o Defective Book
1745 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

Please also let us know your mailing address so that we can send you a new
copy as quickly as possible.

Sincerely,
Team Del Rey

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Loftis [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2005 2:14 AM
To: Del Rey
Subject: Douglas Adams - The Ultumate Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy w/
missing pages....

ISBN 0-345-45374-3

I ordered the book from Amazon.com about a week or so ago, and the book is
totally missing pages 529-560.  They haven't fallen out, mis-cut,
etc...they're simply not there.

Now normally i'd suspect a leaf that just wasn't inserted, but the book is
otherwise fine.  spine isn't mis-formed, and the cover wraps and matches
perfectly.

So what can be done about a getting correct copy of the book?  The other
question is....How many of these were done like this?

Thanks, hopefully this email address connects with a human that can shed
some light on this.

--
Undocumented Features quote of the moment...
"It's not the one bullet with your name on it that you
have to worry about; it's the twenty thousand-odd rounds
labeled `occupant.'"
--Murphy's Laws of Combat

Wow. Time warp, MUCH? What queue did that get stuck in? Seriously!? I’m not even sure if i still have the book, and honestly I completely forgot. There again it could be a good old post-humous DA prank.

Seriously though. Three years?