Where words have been erroneously struck out, or are otherwise wished to remain, dots should be placed under them, and the word Stet (let it stand or remain) written in the margin.
Where the Punctuation requires to be altered, the Semicolon, Colon, or Period, should be marked and encircled in the margin, a line being drawn at the word at which either is to be placed, as in No. 15.—16 describes the manner in which the hyphen and ellipsis line are marked; and 17, that in which the Apostrophe, Inverted Comma, the Star, and other References, and Superior Letters, and Figures, are marked for insertion. Notes, if added, should have the word Note, with a Star, and a corresponding Star at the word to which they are referred.
Where letters or lines are altered, they are noticed by drawing lines before and after them, as in No. 18.
A little practice will soon render the use of these Marks familiar.
It has been before observed, that Correcting the Press, so far as the Printers are concerned, is an extremely troublesome, and to them, the most unpleasant part of their business. It occupies much more time than could be supposed, and consequently occasions an Expense which the mere alteration of a few Words in a Page would perhaps scarcely be thought sufficient to justify. But when it is considered that every alteration disturbs the whole adjoining mass of Type, and may do so to the end of the Page, or several Pages, it will be less difficult to perceive the reason of the well ascertained fact, that Printers always greatly prefer being employed in the Setting, rather than in the Correcting department of their office.
It is not uncommon for Authors, unaware of these circumstances, to deliver their Manuscript for the Press, in a very unfinished state; and in some instances, as if they actually considered that they could not satisfactorily Correct their Work, until they saw it in Print—an error which it would probably only require them to combat to overcome: it should, however, in all such cases, be distinctly understood, that the Expenses of Correcting will, if considerable, unavoidably enhance that of the Printing, and this in a ratio that would very naturally surprise those unacquainted with the subject.
All errors which are not in the Manuscript, are considered as errors of the Press; the correction of which devolves on the Printer. Indeed, no proof should be submitted to the Author, until these have been made: a careful Reader in the Printing Office will also sometimes draw the Author’s attention to some Word or Sentence, which appears to be susceptible of improvement, and which might otherwise have passed unnoticed; this is, however, not always done, unless requested.
In Correcting a Proof, for the reasons already given, as few alterations as possible should be made; when these are, however, unavoidable, it would be advisable to observe this Rule, namely—always if possible, to insert in a Line or Page, as much as is taken out, or vice versâ; this is in a great majority of instances very practicable; and the advantage of it is, that it will avoid what is technically called Overrunning. This will, perhaps, be best explained by referring to the Corrected Proof (p. 40) in the 3rd line of which, it will be seen that the word for is marked out, and the word of inserted in its stead; which, it will be perceived by the opposite Revised Page, has occasioned no alteration beyond the line; but at line 17 there is an insertion marked without an omission; which would have rendered it necessary to carry as many lines as were inserted to the next Page, if the Page had been previously filled up in the usual way. This is called Overrunning, and often requires that each subsequent Page should be altered to the end of a Chapter, or if the work is continuous, to the end of all that has at that time been set in Type.
There is also another point to be observed; which is, that where Revises are considered necessary, as few as possible should be required, each Revise requiring the repetition of the process already described in striking off a Proof, and which will not only occasion additional Expense, but will also frequently cause considerable delay in the progress of the Work. Generally speaking, if the Corrections are clearly marked, and not very numerous, the final Revision may be safely entrusted to the care of a skilful Printer. If any error should escape the notice of the Author, or Corrector, and be Printed off, it may be corrected by Re-printing the leaf in which it occurs, which is called a Cancel. This is, however, seldom necessary, when the error is clearly typographical.
It is frequently a convenience to the Author to have two proofs of each sheet, one to be returned corrected, the other to be retained for reference.