spellings vary in copy, or that a proof-reader will attempt uniformity without positive instruction. Arabic and Oriental names with many accents, and ordinary names with diacritical marks, need particular attention. The preparation of a proper code of spellings calls for time and trouble on the part of the author, but he is well repaid by cleaner proofs and by largely reduced expense for alterations in type. These precautions are observed in their best work by all disciplined writers.
Much copy comes into every printing-house from writers who are not illiterate, but who are careless or apparently indifferent about spelling and writing. When they do not give particular directions, and their spelling is not uniform, it is the rule of all printing-houses that the spelling shall be that of the dictionary selected by that house as authority. When two or more forms of the same word are presented in that dictionary, preference should be given to the form that has the first place. A debatable form of spelling in copy that may be queried afterward by the proof-reader should not be anticipated and corrected by the compositor. Correction before the reading of proof is always a risk, and in many houses an unpardonable liberty. It is safer to follow copy and to leave all suggestions of emendation to the proof-reader. The remarks on spelling that follow have to be confined to words made uncertain by illegible writing or by carelessness in the preparation of the copy.
