Page:Text, type and style; a compendium of Atlantic usage.djvu/13



book is not intended as a general "handbook," or "manual of style," or as a general guide to the study of English, or as anything more than its sub-title indicates: that is to say, an effort to put into words the principles and the rules—so far as those principles can be expressed in rules—that govern the preparation of copy and the handling of proofs of the "Atlantic Monthly." It would be more accurate to say that that was the purpose of the book when first projected; for it was so long ago, that the Atlantic Monthly Press was then in its earliest infancy, and little thought had been given to the matter of the "style" to be followed in such books as it might publish. As, however, its list of publications is rapidly growing, it has become necessary to decide upon the style to be adopted in respect to those matters that are within the province of the printer or publisher rather than of the author; and the scope of this book has accordingly been broadened so far as to indicate the points—comparatively few in number—wherein the usage of the magazine differs from that of Atlantic books.