Author Description

In printing and publishing houses Hart is a household word. First printed in 1893, specifically for compositors and readers at the University Press, Oxford, and first published (in its 15th edition) in 1904, this little book of Rules has become indispensable to all professionals, and widely useful to others concerned with the business of putting words into print -- which includes such matters as alternative spellings, punctuation, capitalization, italicization, abbreviations, and many other details. Recent editions have seen the gradual expansion of the Foreign Languages section. This, the 39th reset edition, carries on this tradition by including a valuable guide to the setting of Welsh, Dutch, and Afrikaans. The changing face of the printing industry is reflected in a new section on Machine-Readable Codes, and the book has been general revised and updated. All word lists have been brought into line with The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (1981) to which Hart’s Rules is an indispensable companion..... Horace Henry Hart (1840–1916) was an English printer and biographer. He was the author of Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers, first issued in 1893. He served as Printer to the University of Oxford and Controller of the University Press between 1883 and 1915. During that time, he convinced the Press to begin using wood-pulp paper, and also introduced collotype and printing by lithography. In 1893 he issued the first version of what became known as Hart's Rules as a single broadsheet page for in-house use. Although first issued internally at the Oxford University Press in 1893, these rules had their origins in 1864, when Hart was a member of the London Association of Correctors of the Press, working for Woodfall & Kinder. With a small group of fellow members from the same printing house, he drew up a list of "rules", which was constantly updated and revised during his career at three other printing houses.