Was a professor correct to chastise me for writing "Prof. X" rather than "Professor X"?

What a jerk! No, writing "Prof." is perfectly fine; his reaction is both incorrect and completely inappropriate. I cannot imagine any professor I know (even the ones I don't like) writing such a thing.

What country is this guy in? Some countries (e.g., Germany) have stricter rules for such things, but I'm still shocked he would respond like this.

regarding typos in ... his book

Ah. Is it possible he's being snarky about your abbreviation since you criticized his typos? If your e-mail had a condescending tone, maybe he is trying to "bite back." That's the only thing I can think of.

As others have mentioned, this of course depends on context, some societies may be more righteous than others about this issue.

Also, I'll be assuming that the issue was about "Prof." and not about including degrees/other titles. If the issue is the latter, I assume it is really standard and that the prof has them clearly displayed somewhere for you to see?

Regarding "Prof.", I did a search over my emails looking for the exact string "Prof.". What I found: I have been addressed as "Prof. Argerami" in emails a bit more than a thousand times. There were emails from (many of each)

• Scientific Organizations (including the International Mathematical Union and the American Mathematical Society, for instance)

• Conference Organizers

• Journal Editors/Editorial Systems

• Students

• Other professors and researchers

• University staff

In summary, in my experience "Prof." seems to be extremely common.

Surely 'Prof.' is as valid as 'Mr.' or 'Dr.'?