, 1897-10-12
PRINTERS MISTAKES,
iMPERFEcTlv WRITTEN COPY USUAL
" CAUSES The ERRORS.

iMPERFEcTlv WRITTEN COPY USUAL,
~ CAUSES The ERRORS.
CsaPssitsrs and Proofre.ders Are Not All
eAkes at GucssIng-Soms Curiou. and
vsxi.g Baa.de. Made In hook. and
Newspaper.
OF b mixing Of books there Ia no end
Of some there should have been no begin.
ming. But pside from that class inany d
o that was intended to be fnultless by
tts author has issued from tho press with
glarir!g blemishes. He reads with amaze
ment in the printed copy statements which
he bad never formed and ideas which he
had never conceived. Since the days Of
Adam man has laid faults Mt soine other
PERSONS door. The bookmaker recalls In
bis mind the various persons through
whose hands his manuscript has passed,
and as they stand before tho bar Of judg-
ment-his Judgment of course-he roads
them a severe lecture. Who is to blnme,
Was 1t the typesettcr or the proofrender or
that denisen Of the inky ofice-the print.
er's devilf Looking upon the thwarted ut
sempts ut perfection, he believes it to be
decidedly impish
Preserves often spoil. Every housewife
knows 1t. Eoonomizing Il spoonful of sug-
ar results In the loss Of II jar OF fruit. So
the art prcservntivo" sometimes fails to
preserve tho writer's thought, whether
through false economy or negligence 1
say not. Sometimes 1t is amateur mex
perience. BY request l once sent an. ami
vorcoev or,,nn - "a I,ppl x,o,i-1r f.u l.,
sertion. 1t was inserted. Such n rendition
OF my fnir written manuscripts! could
weep as l saw the distorted, disjointcd SEN
tcnoes and paragraphs; all the .'ographies"
and ''oiogies" seemed to have passed
through q collision or experienced IN
earthquake. The title was "Mlemorial
Stones" when l sent 1t away, but LOT the
truly original rendition given by that
progressive printer was this, Memorial
Stares." no longer trust amateur print
ers. must first see the proof sheet. Hap
PLY the sheet had the small circulation it
deserved. The older residents regarded
each issue rs II joke pcrpetrnted
Sometimes perhaps the author might
blame himself instead Of the printer.
Great thinkers are not always good writ.
ers. Indeed the reverse seems tO he true
generally Thought Gun form fnster than
ink can flow from the fountain pen This
often causes ourtailment, the sy noopation
Of words. or even the telcscnpinR of sew
eral at once; dropping finals, bisccting
Middles or showing only tho initial letters
Of one word and the final letters Of others,
leaving the poor typesetter to reproduce
the thought from the scanty remains All
printers are not Yankees at guessing
Sometimes the mistakes arc simple. Let.
tors that would never be COMPOUNDED in
print through imperfect construction nre
often COMPOUNDED in writings O., IA
and ''u'' bear no resemblance in print, but
an unclosed written "a looks very much
like the "u," or IA and 20" may be
changed. Whether It ia capitol or capital
the printer must decide from the context
and the dictionary Sometimes they don't
observe either. hut typcwriters will obvi-
ate some Of these difficulties. AS the Irish
man could ride Moot" IN the bicycle, so
the ~amanuensis hereafter can write print
with the machine.
Imperfectly written copy lies at the base
Of many mistakes The author, not the
printer, Is 70 blame. DR.. Farrar writes Of
Dean Stanley and his poor penmanship:
Words that were not absolutely essential
10 b meaning were often a mere flourish.
which might stand for 81 different com.
binations OF letters. Where there was no
clew to tho sense the unhappy reader
might 60 very widely nstrny On one &C.
casion he directed a letter to me to Mhrl-
borough college, Willis That letter never
reached mo 1t had rome to some gentle
mar Of q totally different name ut Merthyr
Tydvil. Wales. This gentleman, seeing by
the printed nddress that the letter ca mt
from the deancry Of W~estminster, hnt un-
able to make mi the name or plaoe for
which the letter had been Intended. sent
IL back TO the dean, who inclosed tho old
envelope to mo In u new one. embell!shed
with several notes Of admiration after the
Merthyr Tydsil postmnrk."
Benjamin Franklin Is said to have
taught his master printer u lesson In types
and consequences. The proof sheet showed
many minor errors. Letters were dropped.
The critical ego Of franklin md his sense
Of right protested. The work was not as
good as It ought to be, hut his boss said:
Let 1t q q. What Ia II letter anyhow. Ev-
erybody knows whit was intended" It
happened soon after that Franklin WAS
typesetting. He had n sentence from l
Corinthians Nv to set up. He saw his op-
p%ortunity, md he took 1t. The paper was
issued. Then came that negligent master
unto his keen witted type boy In IL very
wrnthfnl mood. "Whnt do you mean by
perverting the words Of DR.. - You
have set the whole town to talking"
why" said franklin. "only yesterday
you enid 1t did not matter II n letter was
dropped. Now thnt sentence ia familiar to
all. or should be. In a moment, In the
twinklinR 1T an eye, ut the last trump 80
the dead shall lie raiged incOrruptiblo and