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��ILLEGIBLE MANUSCRIPT IN" PRINTING-OFFICES.
��his letters and other papers. He also made sentences two of which have been known to fill an octavo page, and put no punctuation marks into his work. Some writers, and those, too, of ambitious pre- tensions to scholarship, seem to have no proper idea of punctuation, and distribute capital letters with the utmost freedom, and in defiance of all rules laid down in the books. Others, again, employ no other punctuation than a dash ( — ) which, with them, takes the place of the com- ma, colon and semicolon. Another class of writers underscore about one word in every three — the purpose being to impart emphasis to the underscored words, since such are, according to the rule, put in italic type. But they can carry the practice to such an extreme that they not only fail in their object, because of the multitude of their italic words, but mar the printed page. A book that is well printed should contain as few italic words as possible, and those be employed only where, according to well-established practice, they are required. Hon. Henry Hubbard, Governor of New Hamp- shire in 1842 and 1843, wrote annual mes- sages of great length, plentifully supplied with italic words, to the discomfort of printers in the office of the New Hamp- shire Patriot, and those in all other news- paper offices in the State which published the messages of that chief magistrate.
If all manuscriptj sent to newspaper and book printing-offices was printed as written — and it is very common for au- thors to direct the printer to " follow copy " — many aspiring public men would cut a sorry figure after their productions appeared in print. Men have been known • to place a capital letter at the commence- ment of every line, as if engaged in mak- ing verses ; others, as before remarked, employ the (— ) with " perfect impunity and great boldness," and others punctu- ate hap-hazard. Sensible men, however, submit their compositions to the printer with directions to capitalize and punctu- ate as to him seems proper; well aware that if he is master of his business he will make straight whatever is crooked, and present the author to the public in better plight than he could himself.
��In most cases the proof sheets of man- uscript sent to the offices of daily and weekty journals are not sent to the au- thors. It is otherwise in book and job printing establishments, and it is com- mon for authors to make the final correc- tion. This is a procedure that affords mutual satisfaction ; for, when the writer has revised his work, no other responsi- bility rests upon the printer than to see that the types are not disarranged and that the press-work is properly done. And right here is a point where many printers have had experience of a trying character, namely, in material changes from the copy, and sometimes to such an extent as to greatly enhance to the au- thor the cost of his work. In a well- remembered instance in the experience of the writer of this article, an address before a literary society in Dartmouth College, printed in pamphlet form in the office of the New Hampshire Statesman, was so changed by the author's correc- tions as to more than double the cost of the work. The additional expense was of course borne by him; but even if the printer be reimbursed for his time, labor and perplexity, the work itself is marred by a multitude of typographical changes, and the satisfaction ot producing a good specimen of printing greatly lessened. The prolific power of some writers seems greatly quickened by the sight of their proof sheets.
The difference between fair and illegi- ble manuscript is like that between a day in June and one in mid-winter. One causes smiles, the other frowns. It the hand-writing of a writer is illegible, he ' should employ a copyist, and every one who writes for the press should cover only one side of the sheets. Many news- paper offices reject all manuscript written on both surfaces of the paper, however eminent the author or important and seasonable the topic he discusses. In a business experience of many years we found it greatly to the advantage of the office to examine and prepare for compo- sition most manuscript that came to us. Unless this course was pursued with the larger portion of it, the inevitable conse- quence was increased labor and vexation
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