Book du jour - letterpress erasure

The text is seeping back in - word by word, the type is being turned over and the hidden words are emerging. There's a system for figuring out what comes next, trying to keep some sense (and some suspense) in the text -

A sheet comes off the proofing press -

The italic words are one of those "accidents", and not an entirely happy one. At the end of the setting, 9 Es and 5 As were needed, and no chunks of unreturned Times 18pt could be found, so the options were to use a different typeface - for the end bit, or here and there throughout - or to use italic for some words. I think I made the wrong choice! After decades of editing in a house style where italic was NOT permitted for emphasis, I'm very suspicious of using italic at all. (btw, that house style also frowned on the use of "very" - and it's true, "very" is very seldom needed.)

Next, I'll make the book, and then consider whether the text can be used in a different way, or is worth resetting and reprinting.