PREFACE
By act of Congress the Public Printer is authorized to determine the form and style of Government printing. The Style Manual is the product of many years of public printing experience, and its rules are based on principles of good usage and custom in the printing trade. In addition, the Manual attempts to keep abreast of and sometimes anticipate changes in orthography, grammar, and type production. It has grown with Government and the ever-expanding body of language with new terms and expressions.
Essentially, it is a standardization device designed to achieve uniform word and type treatment, and aiming for economy of word use. Such rules as are laid down for the submission of copy to the GPO point to the most economical manner for the preparation and typesetting of manuscript. Following such rules eliminates the need of additional chargeable processing by the GPO.
For the purposes of this Manual, printed examples throughout this volume are to be considered the same as the printed rules.
It should be remembered that the Manual is primarily a GPO printers stylebook. Easy rules of grammar cannot be prescribed, for if is assumed that editors are versed in correct expression. As a printers book, it necessarily uses terms which are obvious to those skilled in the graphic arts. A glossary of such printing terms to be complete would unnecessarily burden the Manual. (See bibliography on pp. 2–3.)
Its rules cannot be regarded as rigid, for the printed word assumes many shapes and variations in type presentation. An effort has been made to provide complete coverage of those elements which enter into the translation of manuscript into type.
