ABSTRACT
It has ever been the pursuit of eminent printers to aim at accuracy, by their particular care that the effects of their profession should appear without faults and errors, not only with respect to wrong letters and false spelling, but chiefly in regard to their correcting and illustrating such words and passages as are not fully explained or expressed, or are obscurely written in the copy. The office of corrector is not to be applied to one that has merely a tolerable judgment of his mother tongue, but who has some knowledge of such languages as are in frequent use, viz. Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Italian and German, and possesses a quick and discerning eye—these are the accomplishments by which a corrector may raise his own and his employer’s credit; for it is a maxim with booksellers to give the first edition of a work to be done by such printers whom they know to be either able correctors themselves, or that employ fit persons, though not of universal learning, and who know the fundamentals of every art and science that may fall under their examination. We say, examination; for in cases where a corrector is not acquainted with the subject before him, he, together with the person that reads to him, can do no more than literally compare and cross-examine the proof by the original, without altering either the spelling or punctuation; since it is an author’s province to prevent mistakes in such case, either by delivering his copy very accurate, and fairly written, or by carefully perusing the proof-sheet.
