Page:Handbook of style in use at the Riverside press, Cambridge, Massachusetts (IA handbookofstylei00riverich).pdf/11



In order to insure accuracy in printing and to avoid unnecessary expense, copy should be made as nearly perfect as possible before it is sent to the printer. Changes in type are costly, especially so after the type has been made up into pages.

The paper used should be in sheets of uniform size and good quality, neither very slippery nor very shiny. If practicable, copy should be typewritten. When it is written by hand, erasures and interlineations should be avoided as far as possible, and special care should be used to make all proper names and foreign words unmistakable.

Quotations should be clearly marked and verified, and in all cases of considerable length and importance the source should be given fully and exactly.

Footnotes should be put at the bottom of the page, or separated from the text by lines running across the page above and below each note. In handwritten manuscripts, notes may be written with ink of a different color. The word in the text to which the note belongs should be marked by a superior figure corresponding to the number of the note.

All paragraphs should be distinctly indicated, and none should be left in the copy that are not to be followed in printing.

Unless an author intends to leave the printer free to follow the style of the office in regard to spelling, punctuation, and capitalization (see pp. 8, 21, and 30 of this Handbook), it is important that he should prepare the copy with careful consistency and inform the printer of his preference.

Every book MS. should contain copy for a title-page, giving at least the exact title of the book and the author’s name as he wishes it to appear, with any desired designation of his official position. There should also be a table of Contents (which may be subject to change), and a memorandum stating whether there will be a Dedication, a Preface, or an Introduction (if these are to be furnished later). If the book requires an Index, the author should state whether he intends to prepare it or wishes the publisher to