Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-12-07


London publishers determined that
at least one book should be fault
less i'll the matter of errata. He had
the proofs corrected by his own
proofrcaders with the greatest care
until they had exhausted all their
skill and patience and assured him
that there were no longer any er-
rors TO be eliminated. Taking dup
licate proofs of their final revise he
sent them to the universities and
other large publishing houses, offer
ing large monetary rewards for
the detection of any additional err
rors. A few more were found and
after everyone had had an oppor-
tunity to discover any additional
mistakes the plates were made, the
book printed and extensively bound
and advertised as an absolutely per-
feet book, unique in all literature.
For long time this was conceded,
but two or three months later the
publisher received a letter calling
his attention to an error in a GER
tain line and page Later a second
was announced and before the end
of year some five or six had been
pointed out. Errors may be found
in the finest and mosA expensive
copies of the Bible today and Web
ster's dictionary, which passes
through countless hands in the
course of its production, reveals odd
ones here and there.
You, therefore, who pity the lack
Of education you imagine in the
proofreader, have little of the milk
of human kindness in your makeup
and think how you would elucidate
the following mysteries of cali
graphy as translated by the more or
less intelligent printer, the first
word in each case being the print
er's view of the copy he has to set
tip and the second being the correc-
ton: Podunk, 9 o'clock; chronicles,
dramatics; fanny table, fairy fable;
counting potatoes, country parson;
straw hat, crowbar; pain of glass,
pair of gloves; landgrab, sergeant;
noisy autos, mosquitoes. ~
SOIHc Exquisite LIIOIS.
Bad writing will, visibly, account
for some of them, but common sense
and the context should give the nee
essary clue. But the poorest hand
writing cannot be blamed for set
ting up IN c of G Rod" for Noble
Grand; ''n'class" for riches; little
shad" for the Ilaid; Singing truth"
for "clinging touch" or may in
patted lands" for ''clay IN potter's
hands" ,I
Such are the problems faced each
night that have to be decided in
stantly and correctly, for N modern
newspaper production there is no
such word as wait. Many other in
cidents, both humorous and pathet-
ic, are found in the proofs and could
be multiplied many fold While not
intentionally profane, the compositor
who found himself short of space
i'll a line of a religious item and
attempted to get away with the abb
breviation ] Christ for the Savior
was an unconscious humcrist and
caused considerable mirth, in the
proofroom. The same printer was
probably responsible for the great
[ am" in his translation Of fire at 9
m"-the hieroglyphics of the re-
porter were admittedly bad. but the
mind of the compositor must have
been wandering into Biblical history
at the time.
Age-Long Feud in Printshop.
There has been an age-.ong feud
between printer and prooireader in
all newspaper Offices, which persists
however, only during the hours of
labor. Many reasons are put for
ward for its being, one OF which is
born of the fact that the latter's
position is thought by some to be
in the nature of a small promotion
from the rank and file of a more
dignihed calling. In days of yore
it was not quite SO pronounced, due
to the fact that the average reader
was not printer; was usually
college man and had, therefore, out
side of his knowledge printerial, de-
yeloped his brain more than the
average. Today the typographical
union insists that the proofreader
shall be practical man at some
branch of the art preservat've, hence
the feeling that Il know as much
as he does about it" when care
fully-marked proof disagrees with
the translation of an ambiguous SEN
tence as set up by the printer. Oft
en- the latter, does know and per-
tectly friendly visit to the proof
room will always straighten out the
tangle; too often, however, the COM
rositor will enter with a plying air,
a sort of 81 am holier than thou"
look on his face, throw Down the
proof in front of the trembling read
err and sarcastically inquire whether
he is aware of the fact that such an
event happened last week, or that
this particular Mrs. Jones spells her
name with an III in the middle,
thus: Johnes? His attitude is
keenly resentful and due to the ex-
acting nature of the work OF both
their exchange of compliments is not
always, to say the least, civil Thus
the feud is kept alive; but outside
of business hours the utmost good |
feeling usually prevails.
The handwriting of other days is