[Gutenberg 27583] • The Importance of the Proof-reader / A Paper read before the Club of Odd Volumes, in Boston, by John Wilson

Excerpt from The Importance of the Proof-Reader: A Paper Read Before the Club of Odd Volumes, in Boston

It is said that, when Charles Dudley Warner was the editor of the Hartford Press, back in the six ties, arousing the patriotism of the State with his vig orous appeals, one of the type-setters came in from the composing - room, and, planting himself before the editor, said: Well, Mr. Warner, I've decided to enlist in the army. With mingled sensations of pride and responsibility, Mr. Warner replied encouragingly that he was glad to see the man felt the call of duty. Oh, it is n't that, said the truthful compositor, but I'd rather be shot than try to set any more of your damned copy.

As an example of what I mean by bad ms. I take the liberty of showing you one page of a work which, unfortunately, I had agreed to print. This is a sample of one half of a work of 1000 ms. Pages. When the author offered me, a few years later, another work simi larly prepared, I declined, with thanks, to accept it.