Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/379

 CORRECTION OF THE PRESS 375 came minister plenipotentiary of Portugal. He was recalled to Portugal on the promulga- tion of the constitution of 1820, and made min- ister of finance. His most important writings are contributions to the Biographic universelle, treatises on the physiology of plants, Archives litteraires de V Europe, Sur Vetat des sciences et des lettres en Portugal, Sur V agriculture des Ardbes en Espagne, Sur les vrais successeurs des templiers, an article on Europe in the "North American Review," and Colleccao de livros ineditos de historia portugueza (4 vols. fol., Lisbon, 1790-1816). CORRECTION OF THE PRESS, the indication of errors and defects in a printed sheet, with a view to their removal by the compositor. The first impression taken from the types is termed a proof, and is corrected first by the print- er's reader, who points out the faults in the compositor's workmanship, and afterward by the author or editor, who indicates final altera- tions in language, orthography, and punctua- tion. The changes to be made are indicated by marks on the proof, known as printers' signs, which with very slight variations are universally recognized in printing houses. The most important of these are the following: Three parallel lines under a word show that it is to be printed in large capitals ; two parallel lines, that it is to be in small capitals ; and a single line, that it is to be in Italics. As the compositor's attention must be directed to any change in the text by some sign upon the mar- gin, the words caps, sm. caps or s. o., and Ital. are written on the margin opposite to the lines which correspond to them. If a word printed in Italics is to be changed to Roman letters, a line is drawn under it, and the abbreviation Rom. written in the margin. "When a correc- tor, after having changed or struck out a word, decides to let it remain as it was, he makes dots under it, and writes stet (Lat., let it stand) in the margin. An omitted word or letter is marked for insertion by being written in the margin opposite to a caret (A) in the text at the place where the omission occurs. An omission too long for the side margin may be written at the top or bottom of the page, or on a sheet of paper attached to the proof, and connected with the caret by a line. An omit- ted hyphen or dash is marked for insertion by being enclosed between two parallel lines in the margin. When a word or letter is designed to be struck out from the text, a line is drawn through it and the character tP (for the Lat. dele, take out) is made in the margin. To change one word for another, draw a line through the printed word and write the intend- ed word opposite in the margin. "When two words are printed too closely together, a caret is made beneath the place where they should be separated, and the sign $ written in the margin. Syllables improperly separated are joined by a horizontal parenthesis, as er^ror, which is also to be made in the margin. An inverted letter is shown by a stroke under it, and by the sign 9 in the margin. Omitted quotation marks are indicated by carets in the text, and by the characters ty and ^ in the margin. When the punctuation requires to be altered, a caret is made in the text, and the desired point in- serted in the margin ; the period is enclosed in a circle, and the other points have a perpen- dicular stroke after them. When two letters or words are transposed, a curved line is drawn, running above the first and beneath the sec- ond, and the letters tr. are written in the mar- gin. The sign IT in the margin, with a caret in the text, shows the place where a new para- graph is to be begun. If an erroneous break into paragraphs has been made, let a line curve from the end of one paragraph to the begin- ning of the next, and No IT be written in the margin. Attention is called to a defective letter by a stroke under it and a cross (x) opposite ; and to crooked words or lines by strokes above and below them, and corre- sponding parallel strokes in the margin. Let- ters too large or too small are underscored and indicated by the letters w.f. (wrong font) in the margin. The attention of the author or editor is called to obscurities of language, words illegible in the " copy " (manuscript), doubtful statements, &c., by underscoring them and writing qu ? or qy f or (?) in the margin. Very rare qualifications are requisite to be an excel- lent corrector of the press, or proof-reader. Besides a familiar knowledge of the language in which the work is written, and of the tech- nicalities of the typographical art, which is essential, and extensive and accurate informa- tion on general subjects, which is constantly useful, there is especially demanded an extreme precision in the habits of the eye. Hence the term "typographical eye," which implies the power of at once perceiving all the letters of which each word is composed, grasping the sense of each sentence, and following the suc- cession of ideas through a paragraph or a chap- ter. In the period immediately following the discovery of printing, publishers were general- ly eminent scholars, and either corrected the proofs themselves or were assisted in the task by the most learned men of the time ; and several of the early editions of the Scriptures and classics are celebrated for their freedom from typographical errors. Giovanni Andrea, bishop of Aleria, and secretary of the Vatican library, was corrector of the press for Sweyn- heim and Pannartz, the first printers at Rome, about 1468-'74, and exerted his influence in their behalf with Pope Sixtus IV. The learned Hellenist Camotius corrected the Aldine edition of Aristotle, in 5 vols., Venice, 1495-'8. Musu- rus assisted the eldest Aldus in correcting his edition of Plato (1513), and in the preface Aldus offered a gold coin for every mistake that should be discovered (mutare singula errata nummo aureo). The proof-readers of Plantin, who published his first work at Antwerp in 1555, and whose editions were famous for their beauty and correctness, were the distinguished schol-