In our age when self‐publishing is so easy and so frequent, advice like this becomes ever more necessary. This is reflected in the preface that talks of “the increasing proportion of our users who work with magazines, newsletters, corporate reports, proposals, electronic publications, web sites, and other non‐book or non‐print documents”. You can lead a horse to water of course, and the pity is that this volume is likely to remain largely confined to “professional” users: still, we see enough errors of all kinds from established publishing outlets to make this (and its competitor, or perhaps companion titles from Cambridge and Oxford University Presses and others) ever more vital. The brave new world is addressed here with new sections on preparing electronic publications, and these include the “kind of editing and proof‐reading they require”. Getting right back to basics, another new feature for this edition is a chapter on grammar and usage, which “shows how to put words and phrases together to achieve clarity, warns against pomposity, and identifies common errors”. If only life were that simple, but every attempt is to be welcomed as the constant drip of advice might one day help wear down at least one obdurate stone.
So now it really is all here again, complete and absolutely up to date, with advice from writing copy through to the finished physical or virtual product.
This handsome book is in every respect a model of its kind, not least for its layout and physical construction, combining ease of use with elegant, clear and very attractive presentation. Just using it must surely impart notions of good practice, or at least of emulation. The use of Roman, bold, italic and colour (pale blue) typefaces is consistent and appropriate throughout and reinforces the structure of the handbook's contents. These seem absolutely comprehensive: this is the fifteenth edition, after all, so it has had plenty of time since 1906, not just to keep up to date with new trends, but to ensure that every query which has arisen or consistent error which has been noted during its time is covered. Coming up to date, by the way, the recommended form is not “website” or even “web site”’ but “Web site” and we are helpfully advised “Web sites, if titled, should be set in roman, headline style, without quotation marks” (p. 199). Cross‐references to five different sub‐paragraphs produce more specific advice on presenting URLs.
The layout is logical in 18 main chapters, starting at the beginning of the process and moving from general to more specific topics. The opening chapters on “Parts of a published work”, “Manuscript preparation” and “Manuscript editing and proofs”, are followed by “Rights and permissions”; then “Grammar and usage”, “Punctuation”, and next a host of specialist areas (spelling, names, numbers, abbreviations) down to two chapters on “Documentation” (basic patterns and specific content) and finally on “Indexes”. I have to say that this last chapter gives AACR and much library cataloguing practice a good run for its money: the advice here is a triumph of practical common sense and accumulated good practice over arcane rule‐mongering: for example, para. 18.69 advises: “In alphabetizing family names containing particles, the indexer must consider the individual's personal preference (if known) as well as traditional and national usages … ”. Following this might have avoided the ugly (and incorrect) use of Havilland, Geoffrey De for Sir Geoffrey De Havilland in another major reference work.
Two appendices (“Design and production – basic procedures” and “The publishing process for books and journals”) now take on an ever more immediate relevance as institutional archives (and so self‐ or institutional publishing) rapidly become the norm. Even for publication by a commercial or learned society publisher, adherence to the advice in this manual will smooth the whole publication process, with benefit both to the author as well as to the publisher. A thorough bibliography leads the user to standard sources of further advice, including dictionaries, encyclopaedias, etc as well as to other more detailed manuals on all aspects covered by this book; finally, the admirably clear and comprehensive index practices what the manual preaches.
There are quite a few of these manuals from various major publishers, but this one is absolutely outstanding and up to date, as well, of course, as being of longstanding authority. The University of Chicago Press's own staff are at the heart of the work, but advised and supported by specialists and practitioners from various environments. Their manual remains absolutely comprehensive, very detailed, logically and clearly presented, easy to use and, above all else, correct. The divergence between American and British practice is no longer what it once was, with the exception of spelling, so the advice given here can be considered pretty well universal; it is definitely authoritative. As indicated above the number and range of people concerned with preparing material for publication will increase and diversify as open access archive publishing spreads: all will find this an invaluable guide and authoritative set of rules to follow.
