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.