Proofs, CORRECTION OF.

Proofs, CORRECTION OF. The corrections to be made on a 'proof' of printed matter are marked on the margin; and for this purpose an established set of signs or shorthand is used. The following specimen of a proof exhibits the application of most of these signs:

'To rule the nations with imperial swφy, to impose terms of peace, to spare the humbled, and to rcush the proud, resigning itto others to describe the courses of the heavens, and explain the rising stars; this, to use the words of the poet of the Aneid in the apostrophe of Anchises to Fabius in the Shades^{^} was regarded as the proper province of a Roman. The genius of the people was even more adverse to the cultivation of the physical sciences than that the European Greeks^{^} and seen we have^| that the latter left experimental philosophy chiefly in the hands of the Asian and African colonists^{^}. The elegant literature and metaphysical specu¹l²ations of Athens, her histories, dramas, epics¹, and orations, had a numerous host of admirers in Italy, but a feeling of indifference was displayed to the practical science of Alexandria. [' This repugnance of the Roman mind at home to mathematics and physics,^{^} extending from the Atlantic to the Indian^{^}Ocean, from Northern Britain to the cataracts of the Nile, annihilated in a measure all pure sciences in the conquered districts where they had had been pursued, and prohibited attention to them in the mother^{^} country. )

Long, indeed, after the age of Ptolemy, the school in connection with which he flourished, remained in existence; &c.

(1) A wrong letter. After every mark of correction a line / should be drawn, to prevent its being confounded with any other in the same line. (2) A word or letter to be transposed. Where letters only are to be transposed, it is better to strike them out, and write them in their proper sequence in the margin, like a correction. (3) A space wanted. This mark is also used when the spacing is insufficient. (4) A space or quadrat sticking up. (5) Alteration of type. One line is drawn under the word for italics, two for SMALL CAPITALS, three for CAPITALS. (6) Correction or insertion of stops. (7) A word struck out, and afterwards approved of (Lat. stet, 'let it stand'). (8) A turned letter. (9) An omission. (10) A letter of a wrong font. (11) A word or letter to be deleted. (12) Alteration of type. (13) A new paragraph. (14) Insertion of a clause. (15) A space to be removed or diminished. (16) A wrong word. (17) When letters or lines do not stand even. (18) Mark for a hyphen. (19) No new paragraph. (20) The manner in which the apostrophe, inverted commas, the star and other references, and superior or 'cock-up' letters and figures are marked.

The immediate object of a 'reader' or corrector of the press is to observe and mark every error and oversight of the compositor, with a view to make the printed sheet a perfect copy of the author's manuscript. This is on the supposition that the manuscript itself is quite correct, which is seldom the case; and therefore the duty of a good reader extends to seeing that there are no inconsistencies in orthography, punctuation, abbreviations, &c., and in many cases to the verification of quotations, dates, and proper names. Where extensive alterations, omissions, or additions are likely to be made by writer or editor, it is more convenient to take the proofs on long slips, before division into pages. The making of new paragraphs, or the suppression of those in type, should be avoided as causing trouble and expense.

The duty of securing consistency in spelling and punctuation is especially important in the case of works on which several writers are employed, such as newspapers and cyclopædias. The corrector has also to direct his attention to the numbering of the pages; to the arrangement of chapters, paragraphs, and notes; to running titles, &c. It is part of his business to observe the mechanical defects of the work—defective types, turned letters, inequalities of spacing between words, sentences, and lines, crooked lines, and to secure symmetry in verses, tables, mathematical operations, and such like. In almost all cases two proofs are taken, and in difficult works, such as those in foreign languages, tables, &c., even more. Lastly follows the revision, in which little more is done than seeing that the compositor has made all the corrections marked on the last proof. It is usual for the writer or author to reserve the correction of the second proof for himself.

The thankless and monotonous business of a corrector or reader is more difficult than the uninitiated would believe. It requires extensive and varied knowledge, accurate acquaintance with the art of typography, and, above all, a peculiar sharpness of eye, which, without losing the sense and connection of the whole, takes in at the same time each separate word and letter. See BOOK, PRINTING.