SOURCES OF AUTHORITY.
1. It is to be regretted that every publishing-housedoes not start on the principle thata thorough system of doing things right shouldprecede the turning out of printed matter; butthe press of business is so great, the demandsfor ‘rush work’ are so many, that system comeslast, if at all. Managers are busy with thecash account and the pay-roll, for which reasona great deal is left to chance.
Thus it falls that the negligence, incompetence,or preoccupation of printing-office managersmakes good systems of typography theexception rather than the rule. It is a reflectionon the art preservative that the slipshodmethods and unscholarly composition of thedaily newspaper type often corrupt the pagesof trade-and class-publications, as well asof magazines and books. See paragraph 45 ofthis book for an explanation of the use ofhyphens in the foregoing sentence. See paragraph68 for the use of single quote-marksherein.
The hurried work of newspapermen may bepartly excused on the ground of haste, yet inanother sense it requires no more time to do athing the right way than to do it the wrongway.
Printing-houses that pretend to turn outcareful work, such as publishing books andperiodicals, should follow some model of unquestionedauthority; but as proper exemplarsare not often at hand, the daily newspaper,being omnipresent, is taken for a pattern.
The purpose of this handbook is to furnish aguide based on the scholarship and technicalknowledge of some of the world’s greatestauthors and printers. As blunders and inconsistenciescreep into print everywhere, evenwhen special care is taken to avoid them, theauthor expects this very work to be an exampleof the mistakes it warns others to avoid. Suchshortcomings as here appear, however, shouldserve to emphasize the need of great pains byal