Home › Chemical Receipts › Proof

Proof

Hints from a Typo.

As there are not a few who undertake to write for newspapers and to "make books," who do not appear to know how to prepare their copy, the writer of this article, who knows how copy should be prepared, respectfully offers a few suggestions:

A sentence, composed of fine, well-chosen words, may be so marred by inaccurate punctuation and arrangement, as to seem to an ordinary reader but a senseless string of words. Now, it is the interest of an author, as well as his duty, not only to select the words, but to arrange and punctuate them so that his meaning may be readily perceived by any reader possessed of common sense. This duty should not be forced upon the compositor. It is no part of a compositor's business to edit what he "sets up;" in fact, it is not generous, or even just, to expect him to lose time (which to him is bread) in "making sense" by punctuating, capitalizing, paragraphing, or otherwise arranging, his copy.

Copy should be written only on one side of each leaf, in a clear, legible hand, and, as far as possible, without erasures or interlineations; when these are unavoidable, they should be so marked as to leave no excuse for mistake. Proper names, technical or scientific terms, and all unusual words, should be so written as to show each letter distinctly. If the author wish a word emphasized by Italics or SMALL CAPITALS, he should underscore it, with one line for the former, and two lines for the latter; three lines under a word indicate that it is to be in CAPITALS. It is always safer to indicate where paragraphs are to be commenced by prefixing to the first word the paragraph mark, 1. When a word is to have a capital initial letter, it is well to make three strokes under the letter, though this is unnecessary if the writer makes an unmistakable difference between his capitals and lower case or common letters. If cuts or engravings are to be inserted, they should all be ready before the copy is put in hand, and should be marked in just where the author wishes them inserted. If the work contain formulæ, algebraic problems, tables, or other peculiar matter, special care should be bestowed upon them, so as to have their arrangement clear to the compositor; it must be borne in mind that not every first-rate compositor understands the sciences and kindred subjects. The author should always make his commas, semi-colons, colons, periods, dashes, paren- Is used to enter all daily transactions, as its name theses, etc., just where he wishes them to appear imports, excepting those belonging to Cash. in print. If the work is to be set in different Two other short rules in book-keeping are important: 66

Debit, that which cost us value.

Credit, " produces us value.

Merchandize in the case above cited, produced the charge to the individual, hence merchandize gets credit, and the party who receives gets the charge or debit.

The Day-Book