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If the author be a thoughtful man, he will take care that no unnecessary delay occur in the performance of his duty; for, though it may possibly be a matter of little importance to the public or himself when his book will make its appearance, it is of the utmost moment to the printer and his workmen that their material be not blocked up, or their time frittered away. He therefore proceeds at once to the inspection of his proof-sheet; to the task of examining every page, line, word, letter, point, with a keen and scrutinizing eye. In this he has in view one at least of two objects, to ascertain whether the compositor and the proof-reader have left any errors uncorrected, or whether he himself, in the preparation of his manuscript, has been sufficiently careful to express his ideas in the clearest and most accurate manner. Indeed, to ensure the highest degree of correctness, he should have both objects in view; for even if the writer have genius or great learning, and the printer be a man of talent and taste, it is not to be supposed, that these qualities, so desirable in authorship and typography, will have made either of them immaculate. It is therefore probable that both parties have more or less erred. The spelling or the punctuation may be sometimes erroneous; the capitalizing and Italicizing may be susceptible of improvement; inelegances may be noticed, improprieties perceived, or grammatical inaccuracies detected, which, either in the warmth of composition or in a premature haste for going to press, were before concealed. Suggestions, too, may appear in the margin, which, though made by the office-corrector in the modest form of queries, are worthy, at least for

courtesy's sake, of being attended to by the author; who should either adopt them, and expunge, in every case, the word "Qy.," make, if thought preferable, a different change; or erase both the query and the suggestion, instead of leaving them, as is sometimes done, in the margin, to try the printer's patience, and to baffle his skill and ingenuity in ascertaining what is meant.

But an author may be capable of rectifying all these mistakes, and yet, from his inexperience or his heedlessness, he may note them down in the proof-sheet in such a way as to render them either invisible or illegible, and thus defeat his own purposes. To prevent this result, he should mark his corrections, not with a pencil, but with a pen; and place them, not between the printed lines, but in the margin, exactly opposite where the changes required are to be made. In short, to preclude the probability of additional or different mistakes, it should be his aim to use the very marks which the printer employs, and in a similar way. To facilitate an object so essential, we present two pages (see pp. 320-21); the one exhibiting a proof, when read and marked, of work such as may proceed from the hands of a compositor; the other, as it would appear after the corrections have been duly made in type. The former is called a "foul proof," because it contains a far greater number of mistakes than could be made by a skilful and attentive workman; but it is purposely thus presented, in order that an author may see at once the whole of the marks which are adopted, and be enabled to write in the same manner those required in his own proof.

We may add, for the information of young writers, and to deter them from making changes out of mere caprice, that the transferring of these to type is a matter of considerable labor; and that alterations, when numerous, will form a rather heavy item in the printer's bill. To save, however, as much of this expense as possible, an author may, by a little manoeuvring, often substitute, in room of what he erases, just as much as would fill up the space, or expunge as great an amount of matter as he wishes to introduce.

Having finished the reading and correcting of his proof-sheet, the author should write on the lower margin of the last page, either the words "Revise wanted," indicating that he must have another proof, in order to compare it with the former, and to see whether all the pages are correct, before being printed; or the term "Press," showing that, after the alterations have been made in the metal, and read again by the office proof-reader from another impression, there will be no occasion for himself to see a revise, but that the form of pages may be put to press. This impression is usually termed a "Press-proof," and so marked at the top of the first page.

When the form has gone to press, the first fairprinted sheet, called a "Revise," is shown to the proof-reader, who compares it with the press-proof, and cursorily examines the folios, the foot-lines, and the sides of the pages, to ascertain whether any types have fallen out or been broken, or any "bites" have been made, in the last processes.

All the operations described may be regarded as only one of the stages made in the progress of a work

through the press. The same course has to be performed with the remainder of the book, before it meets the approving smile, the condemnatory voice, or the silent indifference, of the mighty Public,- before it shine as a beautiful and benignant sun in the firmament of literaturé, or glimmer like a taper through its little night, shedding for a moment its delusive rays on the step of the benighted traveller, but soon to be extinguished and forgotten amid the effulgence of meridian day.

In these suggestions we have said nothing of the processes adopted in correcting a proof taken from reprinted, magazine, or newspaper matter. But it will be easy for the printer to modify these in accordance with the nature of the work, with the views of parties having over it literary control, or with the amount of time given for bringing out the publication. This much, however, may be said, in justice to authors who have no opportunity of superintending the press, that the same degree of accuracy should be ensured in the second and following editions of their books as in the first; and, in relation to journals, that, if an article, poem, or advertisement is worth the perusal of the public, it surely deserves to be exhibited in a form not altogether disgraceful to taste and letters.

VIII. EXPLANATION OF PROOF-MARKS.

To enable the young author to write his corrections in the proof-sheet, so as to be readily seen and understood by the compositor, we now enter on an explanation of the marks used in pages 320-21, and to which some allusions were made in the preceding article:

In page 269, it is said that capital letters are indicated by three horizontal lines drawn beneath a word meant to be so printed; small capitals, by two lines; and Italics, by one. This is illustrated in page 320,- in the title of the piece, the printed lines numbered 1, 23, and the last line; where the abbreviated words, Caps., S. Caps., and Ital., are written in the margin, exactly opposite where the corrections are to be made in type.

If a word or phrase has been erroneously put in capitals or small capitals, instead of common letters, the change is indicated by writing in the margin, as in No. 2, the abbreviation l. c. (for “lowercase letters ").

To correct a wrong letter, point, or other character, a line is drawn slopingly through it; to correct a wrong word or phrase or two wrong letters, across them; and the right letter, point, word, or phrase, or the appropriate mark, is written in the margin, opposite the error. See Nos. 2, 5, 6, 9-11, 14, 16—19, 27, 29.

When letters, words, points, characters, or spaces have been omitted, a caret is put where they are to be introduced; the corrections, as before, being written in the margin. See Nos, 3, 4, 7, 13, 15, 17, 24, 27.

A line drawn in a sloping direction from right to left is put after all the points written in the margin; with the exception of the period, which is placed within a circle, and of the apostrophe,