PROOF-READING.
Undeniable as is the fact that a book marred by typographical errors and grammatical blemishes is a scandal to the profession, it must be admitted that a careful, steady, and competent reader is indispensable in every printing-office.
It is eminently desirable that a reader should have been previously brought up a compositor. By a practical acquaintance with the mechanical departments of the business, he will be better able to detect those manifold errata which, unperceived by the man of mere learning and science, lie lurking, as it were, in a thousand different forms, in every sheet; and which, if overlooked, justly offend the taste and discernment of all appreciators of correct and beautiful typography.
Some of the principal imperfections which are more easily observed by the man of practical knowledge in the art of printing are the following: viz. imperfect, wrong-founted, and inverted letters, particularly the lower-case n, o, s, and u, as well as p, d, b, and q; awkward and irregular spacing; uneven pages or columns; a false disposition of the reference marks; crookedness in words and lines; bad making-up of matter; erroneous indention, &c. These minutiæ, which are rather imperfections of workmanship than literal errors, are apt to be overlooked and neglected by mere literary readers.
A person of a thoroughly cultivated typographical taste, a quick eye, and a ready mind, though not a compositor, may doubtless be competent to detect those minor deviations from exact workmanship in a proof which the inexperienced and the careless are apt to overlook. But, without these qualifications, no person can be safely intrusted to read a sheet for press, and the labours of the printer are liable to go forth into the world in a manner that will reflect discredit on the employed and give offence to the employer. No form, therefore, ought to be put to press until it has been read and revised by an experienced reader.
A thorough proof-reader, in addition to a general and practical acquaintance with typography, should understand clearly the grammar and idiomatic structure of his mother-tongue, and have, as it were, an encyclopedic knowledge of the names, times, and productions of its writers, as well as an entire familiarity with the Bible especially, and with Shakspeare. He should be, in fact, a living orthographical, biographical, bibliographical, geographical, historical, and scientific dictionary, with some smattering of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and German. Yet all these accomplishments are valueless unless he also possess a keen and quick eye, that, like a hound, can detect an error almost by scent. There are eyes of this sort, that with a cursory glance will catch a solitary error in a page. The world is little aware how greatly many authors are indebted to a competent proof-reader for not only reforming their spelling and punctuation, but for valuable suggestions in regard to style, language, and grammar,—thus rectifying faults which would have rendered their works fair game for the critic.
Although no corrector of the press can strictly be required to do otherwise than to follow his copy,—that is, faithfully to adhere to the original, with all its defects,—yet every one must perceive that he performs a friendly and perhaps a charitable service, by pointing out, in proper time, imperfections and mistakes which have escaped the observation of a quick or voluminous writer. With the spirit, the opinions, the whims of an author, no corrector of the press has any business to interfere. In reprints of old and standard works, no license of alteration ought to be granted to either correctors or editors.
Strict uniformity should always be preserved in the use of capitals, in orthography, and punctuation. Nothing can be more vexatious to an author than to see the words honour, favour, &c. spelt with and without the u. This is a discrepancy which correctors ought sedulously to prevent. The above observations equally apply to the use of capitals to noun-substantives, &c. in one place, and the omission of them in another. However the opinions of authors may differ in these respects, still the system of spelling, &c. must not be varied in the same work.
When an author gives him the option, a proof-reader ought to spell ambiguous words and arrange compounds in a methodical and uniform way; and, to enable the compositors to become acquainted with and to observe his method, he should furnish for their guidance a list of such ambiguous words and compounds.[15]
Such being the qualifications of a reader, we exhibit the process which proof-sheets ought to undergo before the pages are put to press.
When a first proof is pulled, the compositor who imposed the sheet ought to collect and arrange the copy, and deliver both to the reader, who, after folding the sheet to prove the accuracy of its imposition, carefully examines the signatures, head-lines, and paging. He then calls his reading-boy, to read the copy aloud to him. This boy should be able to read with ease and distinctness any copy put into his hands. The eye of the reader should not follow, but rather precede, the voice of the boy: accustomed to this mode, he will be able to anticipate every single word in the copy; and, should a word or sentence happen to be missing in the proof, his attention will the more sensibly be arrested by it when he hears it pronounced by his reading-boy. He ought to be careful lest his eyes advance too far before the words of the boy; because, in his attention to the author’s meaning, he will be apt to read words in the proof which do not actually appear there, and the accuracy of the reading-boy will but tend to confirm him in the mistake.
When the reading of the sheet is concluded, the number (if more than one) of the volume, signature, and prima, or first word of the ensuing sheet, should be accurately marked on the margin of the copy, and a bracket made before the first word of the next sheet, in order that the compositor, should he not have composed beyond the sheet, may know where to begin, without having the trouble of referring either to the proof or the form, and the reader will be certain that the commencement is right when he gets the succeeding sheet. This prevents unnecessary trouble both to the reader and compositor.
Before the proof is sent to the compositor to be corrected in the metal, an entry should be made in a book, according to the following plan:—
| DATE OF READING. | SIGNATURES. | NAMES OF WORKS. | SENT OUT. | RETURNED. | READ FOR PRESS. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1878. | 1878. | 1878. | 1878. | ||||||
| May | 2 | 11 | Decorative Printing | May | 2 | May | 4 | May | 5 |
| ” | 4 | 23 | American Printer, (Revised Edition) | ” | 4 | ” | 5 | ” | 6 |
| ” | 6 | 20 | Specific Heat Tables | ” | 8 | ” | 9 | ” | 9 |
| ” | 10 | 2 | The Great Exhibition | ” | 10 | ” | 12 | ” | 13 |
| ” | 27 | 13 | Masterpieces of European Art | ” | 29 | ” | 30 | ” | 30 |
This account being punctually kept, the reader can furnish the employer or overseer with an exact account of the state of each work without delay or inconvenience.
After the compositors have corrected the errors in the form, a clean proof is pulled, which, with the first proof, is handed to the reader, who then collates the corrected sheet with the one before read, in order to ascertain whether the corrections have been properly made, and whether new errors have not been caused by negligence in the process; and, if the work be a reprint, or if the author is not to examine the proof, he then proceeds to read it very carefully for press.
Some proofs are so foul, that it is almost impossible for the compositor to correct all the marks at one time, and it is therefore necessary to have the neglected errors corrected and another sheet pulled before the proof is read finally. It not unfrequently happens that compositors, in the course of correcting, transpose a letter or word, or alter a letter in a word that is not marked, thus not only leaving one error uncorrected, but also making another; sometimes also, in respacing a line, a space is transposed or a hyphen is left in. Consequently it is absolutely necessary, in revising a proof, that the reader should not only look at the word marked, but he ought also to glance his eye over every line in which an alteration has been made.
In offices where two readers are employed, it is advisable that a proof-sheet should be read over by both; because the eye, in traversing the same ground, is liable to be drawn into mistake and oversight. The interest excited by the first reading having abated, a degree of listlessness imperceptibly steals upon the mind, which greatly endangers the correctness of a proof. Should outs or doubles occur in a proof, it ought to be again read by copy, to detect any improper correction in the overrunning or transposition of lines. Figure work should always be read twice by copy.
The duty of amending the punctuation should be generally confined to one reader. Where a compositor is liable, in this particular, to the whim or caprice of several readers, he certainly suffers injustice, because his time is unnecessarily frittered away; and not only is the work retarded, but the types are needlessly exposed to injury, to say nothing of the liability of creating fresh errors, &c.
Before a manuscript is brought to the printer, it ought to be as perfect as the author can make it. The compositor is bound to “follow the copy,” in word and sentiment, unless, indeed, he meets with instances of wrong punctuation or false grammar, (and such instances are not rare,) which his intelligence enables him to amend. After the matter has been read and corrected in the office, a proof is sent to the author; and, if it corresponds with the copy, the compositor’s responsibility is at an end. He has done all he is paid for; and, should the author desire any changes made in his matter, of course he must pay for them.
Sentiments in print look marvellously different from the same ideas in manuscript; and we are not surprised that writers should wish to polish a little; nor do we object to their natural desire of amending or beautifying their mental products. But let them not forget that pay-time will come,—when the item for alterations will loom out with a startling distinctness in the bill. They found it easy in the proof to erase a word or two here and insert a word or two there; without dreaming, perhaps, that in consequence of these little erasures and insertions the compositor would be compelled to alter and reconstruct much of his work. We know of a volume on which the alterations alone have consumed time equal to one man’s work for nearly two and a half years. How unreasonable—nay, how transparently unjust—the expectation that the printer should give gratuitously the time and trouble requisite for the radical changes in the type which an author’s whim or taste may demand!
Stower says, “It may not be improper, in this place, just to take notice of the great danger to the correctness of a work which arises from the practice, too common with some authors, of keeping their proof-sheets too long in their hands before they are returned to the printer. As the pages in the metal get dry, the adhesion of the types to each other is weakened, and the swell or extension of the quoins and furniture, which the moisture had occasioned, is removed; so that there is great danger of letters falling out when a form is long kept from the press. Nor is the danger which is hereby occasioned to correctness the only inconvenience: the impatience of authors to see their works in a fit state for publication is almost proverbial. The pleasure arising from beholding, as it were, the ‘form and texture’ of one’s thoughts, is a sensation much easier felt than described. That authors, therefore, may partake of this pleasure in a speedy and regular succession, they should make a point of forwarding their proof-sheets to the printer as quick as possible, not only that they may the sooner be got ready for the press, but that the work may proceed in a regular manner, without being interrupted by the forwarding of other works in lieu of that the proof-sheets of which are detained beyond the proper time in the hands of the author.
“Authors are very apt to make alterations, and to correct and amend the style or arguments of their works, when they first see them in print. This is certainly the worst time for this labour, as it is necessarily attended with an expense which, in large works, will imperceptibly swell to a serious sum; when, however, this method of alteration is adopted by an author, the reader must always be careful to read the whole sheet over once more with very great attention before it is finally put to press.
“A proof-sheet, having duly undergone this routine of purgation, may be supposed to be as free from errata as the nature of the thing will admit, and the word ‘Press’ may be written at the top of the first page of it. This is an important word to every reader: if he have suffered his attention to be drawn aside from the nature of his proper business, and errors should be discovered when it is too late to have them corrected, this word ‘Press’ is as the signature of the death-warrant of his reputation. A reader, therefore, should be a man of one business,—always upon the alert,—all eye,—all attention. Possessing a becoming reliance on his own powers, he should never be too confident of success. Imperfection clings to him on every side. Errors and mistakes assail him from every quarter. His business is of a nature that may render him obnoxious to blame, but can hardly be said to bring him in any very large stock of praise. If errors escape him, he is justly to be censured; for perfection is his duty. If his labours are wholly free from mistake,—which is, alas! a very rare case,—he has done no more than he ought, and, consequently, can merit only a comparative degree of commendation, in that he had the good fortune to be more successful in his labours after perfection than some of his brethren in the same employment.”
The form being finally laid on the press, and a revise pulled by the pressman, he sends it to the overseer, who carefully examines whether all the marks have been attended to, and looks along the sides and heads of the respective pages, to observe whether any letter has fallen out, or there is any crookedness in the locking up of the form, any battered letters, or any bite from the frisket. Should the revise prove faultless, he returns it to the pressman, with the word “Revise” written on the margin; if otherwise, to the compositor to whom the form belongs, for immediate correction.