knowledge of, and often no access to, that authority, for not one printing-house in a hundred has more than one dictionary as a book of reference. Prompt obedience is impracticable when British orthography is demanded. The Imperial and Stormonth's dictionaries are known by name only to many American proof-readers, and the great Oxford dictionary, still incomplete, is out of reach of the workmen who need it most. In the absence of authority the compositor and the proof-reader have to hazard guesses, based on analogy, at the spelling desired, and some of the guesses are certain to be wrong. Failing to find in the first proof the spelling he prefers, the author does last what he should have done first, and carefully writes out on the proof the spellings which should have been made in his copy. These alterations delay the work and give dissatisfaction to the author because of the added expense.[1]
There are some niceties in spelling and style that have to be passed with slight notice. The formation of foreign words in the plural number, obso-
- ↑ To remove some of these hindrances to acceptable composition the writer has prepared a list of variable spellings compiled from seven dictionaries infrequent use. (See Appendix A.) The spelling of the Standard dictionary differs from that of the Century in comparatively few words, but the exceptions are enough to be noted. The list may not include every variation, but it does include all in ordinary use, and some that the compositor may never meet.
Expression of preference for the authority of any dictionary has been avoided. Remarks occasionally made about variable spelling are not intended to be dogmatic or argumentative, but helpful only.
