Horace Henry Hart was Printer to the University of
Oxford between 1883 and 1915, but became one of the most influential
printers of the last two hundred years almost by accident. Anyone who
works with books is familiar with Hart’s Rules, but few know that
its first edition, produced in 1893, was originally intended only for the
printing staff at the Clarendon Press. Snappily entitled ‘Rules for
Compositors and Readers, which are to be observed in all cases where no
special instructions are given,’ it also became the default guide
when the Press was producing work for other publishers who provided no
special instructions of their own. When Hart discovered copies of his free
booklet on sale in London, he decided it would be more sensible for OUP to
publish it themselves, the first such guide ever to be published. Now,
after thirty-nine editions, Hart’s Rules has
transmogrified into The Oxford Guide to Style, an altogether larger
book which probably has a lot more in common with that other great
copy-editing classic, Judith Butcher’s Copyediting: The Cambridge
Handbook for Editors, Authors, Publishers; not surprising, given the
way in which publishing has changed so much in the last few years. (Not
that I intend to dispose of Hart’s … like all copy editors, I
firmly believe that no reference book ever entirely outlives its
usefulness.)
But what, I hear you ask, does the The Oxford Guide
to Style have to offer you, particularly if you are a writer
rather than an editor. ‘Everything’ is the short answer, but I
appreciate that this is not tremendously helpful, so let’s break it down
a bit. Chapter 1, for example, guides you through ‘the parts of a book’,
which may not sound helpful at first, but you might just find it useful
later if you’re talking to an editor who’s happily rattling on about
versos and rectos, and it might, for example, be useful to know what those
moral rights are that are being asserted on the verso of the title page.
I, of course, would urge you strongly to read the section on preparation
of copy and proofs, not because I plan to do myself out of a job, but
because I think it gives authors a valuable insight into much of what
happens once their manuscripts go to the publisher, and will maybe help
the working relationship get off to a good start.
But after that … well, what do you want to know? This
book will offer advice on punctuation (with examples, and very thorough
they are, too), not to mention guiding you through the dangerous shoals of
whether or not to capitalise, hyphenate or italicise, all with clear
explanations.. It will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about
how to present numbers in a text, and provides some very thorough
explanations about the different calendars in use through the world.
Much of the book, I admit, is specialised in its
coverage, but if you’re writing a scientific or mathematical text, or
dealing with foreign languages or legal works, where else do you turn for
information on those little nit-picking questions? The extent of the
information provided is truly breathtaking, and in some cases, I’m
not sure it’s easily available anywhere else.
And if your work requires a bibliography or reference
notes, this guide will give you every kind of help in laying them out
effectively.
The Oxford Guide to Style is probably not as
instantly entertaining as its companion, The Oxford Dictionary for
Writers and Editors, but it’s one of those quietly efficient books
that sits on the shelf and gets on with paying its way in an unglamorous
but deeply necessary kind of way, the kind of book you don’t think about
until you really need it, but at that moment you’ll be so grateful it’s
there.
