Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface to the fourth edition
- Preface to the third edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Preliminary copy-editing, design and specimen pages
- 3 Preparing the text for the typesetter
- 4 Illustrations
- 5 Proofs
- 6 House style
- 7 Preliminary pages
- 8 Indexes
- 9 Other parts of a book
- 10 Bibliographical references
- 11 Literary material
- 12 Multi-author and multi-volume works
- 13 Science and mathematics books
- 14 Other special subjects
- 15 Reprints and new editions
- 16 On-screen editing
- Appendixes
- Glossary
- Select bibliography and other resources
- Index
5 - Proofs
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface to the fourth edition
- Preface to the third edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Preliminary copy-editing, design and specimen pages
- 3 Preparing the text for the typesetter
- 4 Illustrations
- 5 Proofs
- 6 House style
- 7 Preliminary pages
- 8 Indexes
- 9 Other parts of a book
- 10 Bibliographical references
- 11 Literary material
- 12 Multi-author and multi-volume works
- 13 Science and mathematics books
- 14 Other special subjects
- 15 Reprints and new editions
- 16 On-screen editing
- Appendixes
- Glossary
- Select bibliography and other resources
- Index
Summary
Exactly what needs to be done at proof stage depends to some extent on the production method chosen. Books that have required any rekeying by the typesetter need to be proofread to ensure that the typesetter has followed the copy-edited typescript accurately. Books that have been set from the author's electronic files need to be read to check that the copy-editor's mark-up has been implemented successfully and that no problems have occurred in translating the author's disk into a typesetting program. Theoretically there should be no ‘typesetter's errors’ in the old-fashioned sense, but layout, pagination, line breaks and placement of illustrations will all need to be checked. If the typesetter found some material difficult to design or read, it may have been rekeyed. The typesetter should highlight such passages on the proof so they can be read carefully for errors.
For books that have been copy-edited on-screen the distinction between copy-editing and proofreading is less clear-cut. The copy-editor is likely to send the author a revised printout or a copy of the edited files (probably with the changes tracked in some way; see section 16.5.6), rather like a preliminary proof stage, before the files go to the typesetter to be formatted and run out as page proofs. In general, however (and with the exception of books produced in programs such as La TeX), the copy-editing stage takes place before the text has been made up into pages, and the proofreading stage after.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Butcher's Copy-editingThe Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and Proofreaders, pp. 95 - 116Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006