efaq: Errors with init files
6.5 Why does Emacs say ‘Error in init file’?
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An error occurred while loading either your ‘.emacs’ file or the
system-wide file ‘site-lisp/default.el’. Emacs 21.1 and later pops the
‘*Messages*’ buffer, and puts there some additional information about
the error, to provide some hints for debugging.
For information on how to debug your ‘.emacs’ file, see 
Debugging a customization file.
It may be the case that you need to load some package first, or use a
hook that will be evaluated after the package is loaded. A common case
of this is explained in Terminal setup code works after Emacs has
begun.
Info Catalog
efaq: Termcap/Terminfo entries for Emacs
efaq: Bugs and problems
efaq: Emacs ignores X resources