THE COPY AND HOW IT IS SET AND PROVED

Manuscript sent to the printer for setting in type is called copy. The copy, before being sent to the typesetter, is marked to show how it is to be set: size of type, length of line, styles of type, initials, headings, and so on. It is the duty of the editor, or whoever prepares the copy for the press, to mark these details. Part of the duty of the proofreader is to see to it that the instructions on the copy are closely and correctly followed by the printer.

Copy should be carefully edited before being sent to the printer. By this is meant correction of misspelled words, mispunctuation, or any other grammatical or literary fault. The copy should be edited, also, to conform to an established style. By style is meant the policy of the publishing house sponsoring the work, as, for example, that Negro should always begin with a capital N (one of the idiosyncrasies of the style of Haldeman-Julius Publications). Many words may be correctly spelled in two ways—consider gray and grey, skeptic and sceptic, honor and honour, theatre and theater, gruesome and grewsome, etc. Consistency in spelling these words is part of the style, and consistency throughout a particular book or magazine should by all means be maintained.

Printers are supposed to follow copy—that is, they must set the matter exactly as it appears in the copy. Sometimes, as on newspapers, typesetters are supposed to make any necessary changes in the spelling or form of words to conform to the established style. An eminent editor once said that the printer should follow the copy even if it took him out of the window! However, a typesetter is likely to correct an obvious mistake in the copy, so if, for any reason, it is desirable to have an unusual form or misspelling set as written, it is necessary to write in the margin of the copy: Follow. This tells the typesetter that the matter is to stand as written.

If the copy has not been edited before being sent to the printer, then the task of the proofreader is much more arduous. He must not only read to correct typographical errors, watch for omissions (called outs), eliminate defective type, wrong fonts, and so on, but he must read the proof with an eye to style, and particularly consistency. He must see that today is always spelled either with or without a hyphen, not letting the word pass with a hyphen on one page and without a hyphen on the next. Punctuation must be closely watched, for many authors are careless about punctuation.

Of course, it is more expensive to read proof for style than it is to have the copy edited in the first place. Sometimes it is necessary, however. The proofreader must exercise judgment, nevertheless. He should be careful not to make changes which necessitate resetting too much text matter.

Fewer mistakes are made in setting type today than used to be the rule, for nearly always today the copy is typewritten. Properly, all copy for the printer should be typewritten, and double-spaced. If the copy is clearly typewritten there need never be any disputes or queries to the author about the interpretation of his handwriting. Queries to the author on this point were formerly very common.

Today, too, the typesetting machine has taken the place of composition by hand. When printers set all type by hand, the chance of error was much greater, though each printer was supposed to read his stick—that is, read each line as he set it, to catch any obvious errors at once. There was a time when printers had to correct their mistakes on their own time; they were particularly careful not to make many mistakes in those days. However, any printer who makes above a certain average of errors today is likely to lose his job.

Typesetting machines are of several kinds. Two well-known names are the Linotype and the Intertype, which are alike in that both of them set type and cast it a line at a time (hence the name, linotype, “line o’ type”). The typesetter uses a keyboard similar to that on a typewriter, except that capital letters have separate keys from the small letters. Usually, each mat (matrix; the brass mold of the letter, several of which in one line are used to cast the line of type) in a linotype font (the complete assortment of letters, figures, and other characters, necessary to set matter in type) has on it the molds for two characters: roman and italic. (The word “roman” is here set in roman type; the word “italic” in italic type.) Thus, the mat for small “a” would have on it the molds for “a” and “a,” and that for capital “A” would have on it the molds for “A” and “A.” A special device on the machine enables the operator to cast whichever form is desired. One letter, one word, or an entire line or series of lines can be cast in italic type from the same mats, set on the same keyboard, as those used for roman type of any particular size and style.

Sometimes, instead of italic, the font has boldface (or fullface), which is blacker than roman, and does not slant like italic. (The word is here set in boldface type). The same font of type cannot have boldface and italic and roman; the possible combinations are roman and italic, roman and boldface, or boldface and italic-boldface. Occasionally a mat will cast italic or boldface when it is not desired, and this makes an error for the proofreader to catch. Such an error occurs in the word proofreader in the preceding sentence. (Note: to make sure the operator setting this book would cast that italic “o” in that word, it was necessary to mark it follow.)

When linotype or intertype fonts are made, it is customary to provide SMALL CAPITALS (the words are here set in small caps, as they are usually called) with roman-italic fonts. These additional characters (just a few of them, so that it is not possible with average fonts to set more than a word or two at a time in small caps) are provided on the figures, punctuation marks, ligatures, where italics are on the letters of the alphabet. Small caps are not shown on the keyboard; the operator has to know which keys to strike, from memory. If the operator fails to make the necessary change in his mats to cast small caps, a strange mixture results. Thus, if the word few is set in small caps, and fails to cast as such, it looks like this: 65ffl!

The proofreader knows whether the matter he is reading is set on a machine that casts a whole line of type at a time. This is important in checking corrections, because whenever a correction is made in a line, the entire line must be reset and recast. The operator might, therefore, correct the word all right, but might make a new error in some other word. In checking corrected proofs the reader must read the entire line in every case.

The Monotype is a typesetting machine which casts each letter separately, so that the resulting composition is much the same as handset type. When corrections are made in matter set by the Monotype, the printer picks out the necessary single characters from a type-case, and inserts them by hand. Monotype composition is somewhat more expensive than Linotype or Intertype composition, and is consequently much less used. It has to be used, however, wherever there is a great variety of types or characters in the same line, as in many textbooks, foreign languages, etc.

Headings in large type are often set by hand even today. Initials, rules, borders, and so on, are inserted by hand in or around the machine composition. The machine operator sets the straight matter, as marked on the copy. A printer then takes this, after it has been given a first proofreading, and makes it up into the necessary final arrangement.

Text matter is first proved on galleys. The galley is a shallow tray in which the type is placed for filing away on shelves, awaiting correction. This first proof is called the galley proof: it is a trial impression made on strips of paper about two feet long, as a rule, the paper being wide enough to accommodate the width of the type as set, and to leave generous margins on both sides for the proofreader to mark the corrections. The galley proofs are numbered consecutively.

The first galley proofs are read by the printer’s proofreader, and corrected. The corrected proofs are marked for revise. The proofreader carefully checks the corrections, marking any new errors, or any errors that were overlooked. When the galley proofs are O. K. according to the first proofreader, they are delivered to the next person who is to read them, together with the copy. When the second proofreader gives the proofs an O. K., the proofs may then be sent to the author, or to whoever is to read them next.

After the galley proofs have been given an O. K. by the regular readers, the type is paged, if it is for a book or a magazine. Initials, illustrations, diagrams, etc., are inserted wherever indicated. Each page is justified (made to the right size, even to the fraction of an inch), and the page numbers and running heads are added. The page numbers are known as folios. Sometimes the page numbers are on the same line with the page headings, as in this Little Blue Book, but they may be by themselves at the bottom of each page, either at the outer corner or centered (in the middle). Captions for the illustrations or diagrams are set and inserted also. Page proofs are then pulled, and sent to the proofreader, whose duty it is to see that everything is O. K. for going on the press. It is page proofs that are usually sent to the author, unless he particularly requests galley proofs, or unless it is likely that he will make several changes, as in a timely work which may have to be revised right up to the minute of going to press.

On newspapers proofreading is much more hastily done than anywhere else. Frequently the machine operators check their own corrections—that is, they read each slug (or line) as it is cast, recasting it if any error is noted. It is then taken for granted that the lines are O. K., and they are slipped into proper place and the matter is considered clean.

If for any reason, or by accident, type is printed without being proofread it is said to be railroaded. Type that has been O. K.’d by all the proofreaders is called clean, or simply O. K.

When all the matter is finally O. K. for a book or magazine, it is locked up for the presses, if it is to be printed from the type, or for the electrotyper, if plates are to be made first. Electrotype plates are usually used for books, and for magazines of large circulation because there is no chance of dropping the forms and mixing up the type (then called pied), and plates are much easier to handle. Copper-faced electrotype plates also wear much longer than linotype metal or cast type. Stereotype metal, however, used for casting the semi-circular plates for rotary presses, is much harder and lasts longer than linotype. Linotype can be used directly only on so-called flat-bed presses. After the plates are made, the type is usually killed (thrown into a melting pot, and melted up, cast into pigs or small blocks, ready to be used again in the machines).

When the press form is ready, it is put on the press which is to turn out the printed sheets. A press proof is then pulled, showing the exact impression the press will turn out, as the form has been locked up. A reader whose duty it is to O. K. press proofs must go over this proof carefully. If it is from plates, he must see that they are in the right order and that they all show up well. The pressman must make ready on the form to give an even impression and eliminate any light or heavy places in the type. If the press proof is from type, the reader must be sure that no lines have been transposed while the type was handled when being put into the form; he must also check the order of pages, and watch to see that no initials (which are sometimes loosely inserted) have dropped out during the handling of the form. If the press proof is for color work, the reader’s task is even more arduous; but this phase of printing is beyond the province of this little book.