Portal:Riverside Press

“ Much must be left to the purpose and feeling of the writer whose work is being printed, and the application of rules must be elastic enough to meet all cases. The printing art is servant to the author, not his master. ”

“ In order to insure accuracy in printing and to avoid unnecessary expense, copy should be made as nearly perfect as possible before it is sent to the printer. Changes in type are costly, especially so after the type has been made up into pages. ”

“ In the names of species and subspecies, consisting respectively of two and three parts, the first part (the generic name) is always capitalized; in zoölogy the second and third parts (the specific and subspecific names) are never capitalized even when derived from a proper noun. In botany usage varies in respect to specific and subspecific names which are proper nouns or proper adjectives or taken from the names of genera, and copy should be followed ”

“ Where the punctuation of a manuscript is consistent, and when the sense of the text is not affected, the punctuation should not be changed.
Unless directions to the contrary are given, all punctuation marks should be printed in the same style or font of type as the word or letter immediately preceding them. In italics, where an abbreviation is used, with a semicolon, colon, exclamation, or interrogation point immediately following, do not use an italic mark; as, Ibid.; et seg. ”

“ Absolute completeness has not been aimed at; the dictionary has not been displaced; common-sense and good judgment must always be used by compositors and proof-readers. It is hoped, however, that the Handbook will prove of practical use in standardizing work and preventing misunderstandings. ”

“ No space is needed, however, between a comma or period and the apostrophes closing the quotation.
Quote—
A word or phrase accompanied by its definition; as, “Drop-folio” means a page number at the foot of a page.
An unusual, technical, or ironical word or phrase in the text, whether or not accompanied by a word like so-called, directing attention to it.
A word or phrase to which attention is particularly directed; as, The words “liberty” and “freedom” and “the people” fall glibly from the lips of the demagogue. ”

“ Nouns and adjectives only, in tables of contents, headings, etc.
In titles of books, plays, etc., as a rule, nouns and adjectives only. In exceptional cases, such as, What Will He Do with It, The Men Who Made the Nation, it may be better to capitalize all the words in the title except the prepositions, conjunctions, and articles.
In citing names of periodicals, as, the Boston Post, the Springfield Republican, etc., the article the is not to be included as a part of the name. The second element of a compound word, if a noun, when the first element is capitalized; otherwise not. ”

“ ABBREVIATIONS
In General. Abbreviations as a rule are not acceptable in the text of a book, though they may be employed in tabulated statements, in lists of names, or in other places where it is desirable to save space. In technical matter and scientific works, abbreviations are of course desirable.
Forms of Address. The following abbreviations are to be used in all cases:—
Do not set the Rev., the Very Rev., the Right Rev., or the Hon., the Right Hon., except in quoted matter. ”

“ Spell out, in ordinary reading matter, all round numbers and numbers of less than three digits, unless of a statistical or technical character, and unless occurring in groups of six or more, following one another in close succession. Treat all numbers in connected groups alike: if the largest contains three or more digits, use figures for all. ”

“ Use a hyphen when a present participle is united (1) with a noun, forming a new noun with a meaning different from that conveyed by the two words, taken separately; (2) with a preposition used absolutely, to form a noun: boarding-house, dining-room, sleeping-car, dwelling-place, stumbling-block ”

“ Are used—
To indicate the omission of one or more words.
To show ellipsis, use three periods separated by en quads. If the sentence ends with a period do not include this in the three points of the ellipsis. Where a whole paragraph or paragraphs, or in poetry a complete line or lines, are omitted, insert a full line of periods separated by 2-em quads. An ellipsis should be treated as a part of a quotation, and consequently should be inclosed in the quotation marks.
The Hyphen
Compound adjectives generally take the hyphen ”

“ Copy should be written on only one side of the paper, and the sheets should be numbered consecutively, but not fastened together. They should be sent to the publisher or the printer flat; never rolled or folded. When it is necessary to attach one piece of paper to another, good mucilage should be used, rather than pins or clips.
An author should always retain one copy of a MS., and not run the risk of absolute loss by sending away his only copy ”

“ After such words as again, now, why, and the like, when they introduce a sentence, and refer, not to any particular word, but to the whole proposition.
Before and after parenthetical clauses not inclosed in parentheses. The increase of wealth and the extension of trade produced, together with immense good, some evils from which poor and rude societies are free.
To indicate the omission of a word or words,—the repetition of which is not essential to the meaning,—unless the construction is smooth enough to dispense with the comma. In Massachusetts the legislature meets annually ”

“ Conventions, congresses, expositions, etc.; as, Council of Nice, Parliament of Religions, Peace Congress, Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
Government and Administration, used as nouns, when referring to a definite group of officials exercising executive or administrative powers, or when used to indicate the legislative, executive, and judicial powers taken together; the word State or States, when used as a noun, referring to any of the States of the United States, or to a subdivision of any foreign country having the title State ”

“ If in the text there are extracts in the same or nearly the same size of type as the notes, coming at the bottom of the page, a full-width single rule should be used to separate the notes from the extracts.
In wide measure, the notes may be set to advantage in half-measure, with blank space of an eight-point em between the columns. This method of composition frequently saves space, and gives a more compact page, when the notes are short. When this method is used, the half-measure should not be used for a single note unless it makes at least two full lines. ”

“ Do not separate abbreviations like a.m., e.g., i.e., a.d., M.D., Ph.D., Litt.D., etc.
In text matter where a number of subdivisions are made, as, (1) , (2) , (a) , (b) , etc., do not end a line with the divisional mark, but carry it over with the matter to which it belongs.
Time and Date. Abbreviate a.d. and b.c., a.m. and p.m., and set in small caps without space between letters. Where roman letters are used, in text or footnotes, to express dates, use small caps. ”

“ There is no system of dividing words that is wholly acceptableto all writers and printers. The general rule of the Riverside Press is to follow the divisions used in the full-faced type in the Vocabulary of the latest edition of Webster’s International Dictionary ”

“ Do not capitalize such words as socialist, abolitionist, anarchist, etc., in their general sense, but only as applied to a distinct party organization or sect. Political alliances, and such terms from secular or ecclesiastical history as have, through their associations, acquired special significance as designations for parties, classes, movements, etc. ”

“ Words and phrases from foreign languages, occurring in the text, except when they are quoted, or form part of a conversation. Do not italicize foreign words of everyday occurrence. Words in the following list need not be italicized:— [1]
Titles of books, pamphlets, etc., in prefaces, introductions, footnotes, and end-notes, and in Educational Department publications, unless otherwise indicated, in both text and footnotes. Also in the text in cases where the copy is so marked, and special instructions have been given to follow the copy. ”

“ Christian names should always be spelled out, except where the abbreviated form is used in quoted matter, or in original signatures. Note that Alex, Ben, Ed, Fred, and Sam are not always abbreviations. Copy should always be followed as regards the period. In tabular or other matter, where abbreviations must be used, the following forms are preferred ”

“ But where only an isolated reference is made to one or more regiments, and the corps or divisions are not mentioned, the spelled-out form is proper; as, The Seventh New York Regiment; the Twentieth Ohio. ”

“ Footnotes should be put at the bottom of the page, or separated from the text by lines running across the page above and below each note. In handwritten manuscripts, notes may be written with ink of a different color. ”

“ Words thus ending in our are:—
arbour ardour armour behaviour candour clamour clangour colour demeanour discolour dolour endeavour favour fervour flavour harbour honour humour invigour labour misbehaviour misdemeanour neighbour odour parlour rancour rigour rumour savour splendour succour tabour tumour valour vapour vigour Under instructions to “use English spelling,” the above forms are to be used ”

“ In literary references, in footnotes, bibliographies, indexes, etc., the following forms are to be used:—
vol. i, bk. i, part ii, no. 2, chap. ii, art. iii, sec. 4, p. 5, col. 6, vs. 7, st. 8, l. 9, n. 6; pp. 5–7; pp. 5 f.; pp. 5 ff.; Fig. 4. The plurals of the above forms are vols., bks., nos., chaps., arts., secs., pp., cols., vss., sts., ll., nn., Figs. ”

“ Adeler (Mary) Adler (Rabbi) Air (Point of) , N. Wales Allan-a-Dale Allan Poe (Edgar) Allegany County (Md.) Alleghany Mountains Allegheny City and River All Souls College (Oxford) Alma Tadema (Lawrence) Alma Tadema (Miss Laurence) Andersen (Hans C.) Apennines Appalachians Arcadia (poetic) Austen (Jane, English novelist) Austin (Jane G., American novelist) Ayre (Point of) , Isle of Man Bastille Baylis (T.H., writer) Bayliss (Sir Wyke, painter) Berthallet (C.L., chemist) Berthelot (P.E.M., chemist) Beverley (Eng.) Beverly (Mass.) ”