GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

PREPARING COPY

The first duty of copy preparers is to mark those things which are not readily understood and to indicate headings, indentions, dashes, new pages, new odd pages, and such other matters as are necessary to give the completed book a good typographic appearance. They must indicate point size and type series on copy, and whether matter is to be leaded or double-leaded, etc.; verify folio numbers; and plainly indicate references, footnotes, cut-ins, etc. Unless otherwise marked, text copy will be set in 10-point solid and tables in 6-point solid. Two-point rules will be used in tables unless otherwise specified.

It is not absolutely necessary to mark again anything that has been plainly indicated at the beginning of a sheet, as the preparation is to be followed if the same thing should appear more than once on the sheet; but on copy marked "Fol." the preparation must be carried throughout.

Copy that is ordered to be kept clean and returned intact must be marked as lightly as possible, so that erasures may be easily made. Copy preparer's instructions, which accompany each job, are written to cover the general style and certain peculiarities or deviations from style. These instructions must be followed. The copy preparer must not deviate from the style laid down in this manual unless authorized to do so by the Chief Copy Preparer.

The following rules apply to all copy:

Abbreviations.

In marking abbreviations to be spelled, copy preparers must show what the spelled form should be, unless the abbreviations are common and not susceptible of two constructions.

Capitalization.

Unusual forms of capital and lower-case letters must be indicated. Date lines, addresses, and signatures.

Copy preparers must mark caps, small caps, italic, abbreviations, and indentions; also indicate where lines are to be broken if necessary.

Decimals and common fractions.

In figure columns containing decimals or common fractions preparers must indicate at the top of each folio of a continued table the "clear" necessary to preserve proper alinement. The "clear" indicated for decimals does not include the bear-off.

Folioing and stamping copy.

Folio numbers should be placed in the upper right-hand corner, preferably half an inch from the top.

All other stamping-type size, measure, etc.-should be placed in the upper left-hand corner.

Divided tables that have to be cut or that continue on more than one sheet of copy must be folioed down the first divide to the end of the table and continue on the next divide to the end.

Footnotes and references.

Footnotes and references, in general (see p. 143), run consecutively from 1 to 99 and then begin with 1 again. Copy preparers must see that references and footnotes are plainly marked and indicate if they are to be set in half or third measure. On a job that is not completed the last footnote number must be given to the Chief Copy Preparer, who will enter it on his copy book, so that there will be no question as to the next footnote number. (See Page and stone revising, p. 10; Reference marks and footnotes, p. 143.)

If a reference is repeated on another page, it should carry the original footnote; but to avoid repetition of a long note, the copy preparer may use the words "See footnote 3 (6, 10, etc.) on p. instead of the entire footnote.

Headings.

The type to be used for all headings must be marked-case number or size of type, indicating whether italic, small caps, or caps and small caps.

Pick-up.

The jacket number of a job from which matter is to be picked up must be indicated, and the copy preparer must ascertain whether pick-up is available. Uniform style must prevail on new matter and on pick-up.

Signs, symbols, etc.

All signs, symbols, dashes, superiors, etc., must be plainly marked. Names of Greek letters must be written, as they are frequently mistaken for italic or symbols.

The symbols Al, Cl, Tl are sometimes mistaken for A1, C1, T1 in typewritten matter. Copy preparers must indicate whether the second character is a letter or a figure.

COMPOSITION

Compositors and operators must study carefully the rules governing composition. Failure to do this will show plainly on proofs.

In setting inserts on a pick-up or on a proof, the compositor or operator must indicate with a pencil what portion was actually reset. Every precaution must be taken to prevent the soiling of proof sheets, as it is necessary for the reviser to see clearly every mark on the margin of a proof after it has been corrected.

Corrections queried in a ring must not be made, as such queries are intended for the author.

After a proof is read the first time, if a word or line is pied or a dropout occurs, the workman must call attention to it in writing on the proof sheet. If a proof sheet is not available, the type involved must be placed feet uppermost when returned to position. This direction is intended for all who handle type.

In correcting matter set on the linotype machine, care must be taken to insert corrected type slugs in their proper places and to remove only such type slugs as are necessary. Matter must be "run down" to see that lines have not been duplicated, transposed, or eliminated. If the corrector is in doubt, he must read the slugs.

READING AND COPY HOLDING

Foremen of composing sections must see that the copy preparer's instruction sheet is sent to the Proof Section with the first installment of each job.

Readers must consult the copy preparer's instruction sheet.
Speed is desirable, but accuracy is of first importance.

The reader should see that the rules governing spacing, division of words, and good printing generally have been observed. The reader who passes bad spacing will be held at fault.

If the reader detects inconsistent and erroneous statements, made by the writer through lapse of memory or slip of the pen, it is his duty to correct them. He must know, not guess, that they are errors, and he must be prepared, if called upon, to vindicate by recognized authority the soundness of his correction. If he does not know, he must query.

If the grammatical construction of a sentence or clause is questioned by a reader and it seems desirable to change the form, he must indicate the proposed correction, add a query mark, and enclose all in a ring. If a statement of fact is thought erroneous or doubtful, he must underscore the matter in doubt and write "Author verify" enclosed in a ring in the margin. It is not enough to write only a query in the margin: the reason for the query must be clearly shown. If there is little doubt, the correction should be made, but a query enclosed in a ring must be written beside the correction to call the author's attention to it.

A query appearing on copy must be carried to the author unless readers can definitely answer it.

Proofs that are not clearly printed or are in any manner defective must be called to the attention of the deskman.

The manner in which correction marks are made on a proof is of considerable importance. Straggling, unsymmetrical characters, disconnected marks placed on the margins above or below the lines to which they relate, irregular lines leading from an incorrect letter or word to a correction, large marks, marks made with a blunt pencil, indistinct marks, and a frequent use of the eraser to obliterate marks hastily or incorrectly made are all faults to be avoided.

In reading proof of wide tables, the reader should place the correction in white space as near as possible to the error, thus aiding all who have occasion to handle the proof afterward. He should obliterate entirely a broken or defective figure and rewrite it in a ring. He should not mark transpositions in little-known words or in figures, but write the letters or figures in the order in which they are to appear. In marking errors in display type the case number must be indicated. Readers must draw a ring around footnote references in proof, as an aid to the maker-up.

On discovering evidence of any wrong-font matrices readers must immediately inform the referee.

Readers must not make important changes in indentions or tables without consulting the referee.

The marks of the copy preparer must be given consideration by all, as he is in a position to know more about the peculiarities of a job than one who reads but a small portion of it.

Any mark which will change the proof from the copy as prepared must be enclosed in a ring.

All instructions on copy must be carried on proof sheets by readers. Folios of copy must be "run" by the copy holder and verified as marked on proof.

In reading copy an unnecessarily loud tone of voice must be avoided. Short words are as important as long ones and should be pronounced distinctly. Plurals will be clearly sounded, and names of persons or geographic designations pronounced distinctly or read by letters.

MAKING-UP

Before beginning his work the maker-up must ascertain the length of type page and style of folios to be used. He should also know whether work is to be printed from type or plates. If the work is to be printed from type or flat plates, it must be made up with a 10point slug at bottom within the gage, but it can be made a flush page if necessary; if from curved plates, no flush pages should be made, the longest to be 4 points shorter than the gage.

If it is found necessary to make a page a few lines short, the facing page should be of approximately equal length if the text permits.

A blank or sink of 72 points should be left at the head of each new odd or even page of octavo (document) or greater depth; pages with a depth of from 6 inches to octavo will carry a 60-point sink; pages less than 6 inches, 48 points.

If top center folio is used, the folio on a new page must be placed in the center, at the bottom, enclosed in parentheses.

Contents, lists of illustrations, the preface, or any other matter that makes a page in itself should be placed 12 points or more nearer the top than the bottom, the difference depending upon the length of page. (See p. 11, par. 14, for standard make-up of Government publications.)

In "cleared" indexes the words being cleared must be repeated at the top of the column or page.

Continued heads over tables and leader work must be condensed into one line if possible.

Footnote references should not be repeated in box heads or in continued lines over tables unless special orders are given to do so, but they must be repeated after continued lines in stubs.

Six-point notes above tables should be enclosed in brackets and are not repeated with continued heads unless they are needed on each page for the sake of clarity.

For arrangement of footnotes, see page 11, paragraph 16.

Unless other type is indicated, legends for illustrations should be set in 6-point roman, lower-case.

Legends and explanatory matter with illustrations are set full measure unless text is to be run at the side or unless the illustration is wider than full measure.

Legends (for illustrations that run lengthwise of the page), broad tables, etc., must read up.

Center heads, whether in black face, caps, small caps, or italic, should have more space above than below. Uniform spacing should be maintained throughout the page; if this is hot possible, the space above and below the center lines should be reduced, commencing at the bottom of the page.

In making up a page of two or more columns with an illustration more than one column in width, the text should be broken so that it will read from above the illustration to the same column below. If a table occurs under the same conditions, the text should double up above it.

IMPOSITION

A page is considered the unit of a signature, the two companion pages the unit in imposition. Whether the imposition is from the outside or inside, a long or a broad form, work and turn or sheetwise, these companion pages are never separated; their position is determined by the fold.

To illustrate further the fact that these companion pages are the unit of imposition, it will be found when determining margins that these two pages are always printed in the center of the untrimmed sheet, as regards outer margins, when it is divided into halves, quarters, eighths, or sixteenths. For example, a sixteen is to be made up to 24- by 38-inch paper, side wire-stitched, the half of which the 24-inch way is 12 inches. The width of the two type pages, say, is 48 ems of 12-point, or 8 inches, and the back is 10 ems of 12-point, or 1% inches, leaving 2% inches to be used as margin, one-half of which is to go on the outside of each printed page (1% inches, or 7 ems of 12point), making 12 inches in all.

The other two companion pages that go to make up the quarter of the sixteen are likewise printed in the center of the quarter sheet, which is 19 inches, one-half of the 38-inch way. It will thus be observed that two pages were used to get the outside margins and another multiple of two (four) to get the bottom margins.

Margins should be governed by the trimmed book and not by the untrimmed sheet. The gutter or back margin should be such that it will bring the pages nearly in the center of the open printed book without using fractional parts of 12 points, putting the excess space in the outer margins, except in books that are to be side-stitched with wire, in which 12 points additional per page must be allowed for space that will be taken up. The margins should be so planned that when the book is delivered from the binder the back margin is less than the outside. In adopting the type page and trim allowances stated herein, the economical use of stock has been considered. The type page has been made as large as possible. The top margin of the trimmed book should be at least 3 ems of 12-point and the bottom margin at least 4 ems of 12-point. The outside margin should be at least 1 em of 12-point greater than the back but not as wide as the bottom margin.

If a running head is used, the head margin should be the same as the back; but if a center folio is used, that line and the slug below it should be counted as part of the margin.

If a book makes less than 80 pages (weight of paper to be considered) and is not to be sewed, it should be imposed as an inset for saddle stitching, with gutter margin same as a sewed book.