It is the only serious flaw in a biography unlikely to be surpassed for some time.
Gold and silver coins of the Gupta period exhibit a refinement that was not to be surpassed for many centuries.
"Germaine Brée's remarkable study is not likely to be surpassed for many years," Henri Peyre wrote in The New York Times Book Review at the time.
True, the almanac does contain a number of insights into the human condition that have never been surpassed for their perspicacity, conciseness and utility.
The world's biggest petrol station Moreover, Singapore is unlikely to be surpassed for a while in terms of the ancillary services that it can offer.
But the spire has been surpassed, for height and force, by a structure that soars slantwise some 400 metres into the air, and prods the clouds like an accusing finger.
"It's an amazing record and one unlikely to be surpassed for quite a few years," said Bingham before the momentous occasion, as Northern Ireland marked Jennings' landmark with a fitting display.
Sometime later this year, if current trends continue, worldwide sales of media products — the books, movies and music that Amazon started with — will be surpassed for the first time by sales of other merchandise on the site.
The world's 20th largest country by land area, with principal exports of copper, gold, zinc, textiles, fishmeal and Tintin plots, Peru seems likely to be surpassed for economic output by an American company offering a range of products which, as Cook has previously observed, could all fit on one table.
