Product Description

Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford was first printed in 1893. This classic reference work for writers, editors, and publishers was in print through 39 editions for nearly one hundred years. New Hart's Rules is a brand-new text that brings the principles of the old text into the 21st century, providing answers to questions of editorial style for a new generation of professionals. Writers and editors of all kinds will find this handy guide an indispensable companion in their work. Twenty chapters give information on all aspects of writing and of preparing copy for publication, whether in print or electronically. New Hart's Rules covers a broad range of topics including publishing terms, layout and headings, how to treat illustrations, hyphenation, punctuation, UK and US usage, bibliographies and notes, and indexing. The chapters have been compiled by a team of experts and consultants, and the book draws on the unrivalled expertise of Oxford's Reference Department. It is also endorsed by the Society for Editors and Proofreaders. The text is designed and organized for maximum accessibility with clearly displayed examples throughout. Authoritative and comprehensive, New Hart's Rules is the essential desk guide for all writers and editors, and together with the New Oxford Spelling Dictionary and the New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors forms the complete editorial reference set.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32348 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-22
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 432 pages

Synopsis
"Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers" at the University Press, Oxford was first printed in 1893. This classic reference work for writers, editors, and publishers was in print through 39 editions for nearly one hundred years. "New Hart's Rules" is a brand-new text that brings the principles of the old text into the 21st century, providing answers to questions of editorial style for a new generation of professionals. Writers and editors of all kinds will find this handy guide an indispensable companion in their work. Twenty chapters give information on all aspects of writing and of preparing copy for publication, whether in print or electronically. "New Hart's Rules" covers a broad range of topics including publishing terms, layout and headings, how to treat illustrations, hyphenation, punctuation, UK and US usage, bibliographies and notes, and indexing. The chapters have been compiled by a team of experts and consultants, and the book draws on the unrivalled expertise of Oxford's Reference Department. It is also endorsed by the Society for Editors and Proofreaders. The text is designed and organized for maximum accessibility with clearly displayed examples throughout.

Authoritative and comprehensive, "New Hart's Rules" is the essential desk guide for all writers and editors, and together with the "New Oxford Spelling Dictionary" and the "New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors" forms the complete editorial reference set.

Customer Reviews

On balance worth having
Yes it isn't an update to the original Harts, so on that basis it loses a star due to OUP's re-use of the brand for something new.

Judging the book on its own merits, it is concise, clear, compact and reasonably authoritative. I would also say it goes wider than some style guides and looks at overall composition of a book (not all of which would be relevant to an author).

It also covers a very broad range of written material as you would expect from OUP, including mathematics, indexing, tables, captions and so forth.

Having had a lot of exposure to composition this is I would say written from the write point of view - I just need to find an second hand copy to satisfy my nostalgia for the original!

Invaluable
This revised edition of the classic 'Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers' is a pocket-sized goldmine of advice about good, clear English style and punctuation.

Fans of earlier editions may be disappointed at the extent of the revision; not a lot of the content of previous editions is left in the book. The most obvious cuts have been the advice to compositors, which were presumably made because the trade of compositor is now pretty much defunct in the world of digital printing. But they can console themselves, as I do, with the knowledge that older editions of the book are still available; my own (the 37th edition, trivia fans) is still on the shelf, and there are plenty of secondhand copies out there, if you're curious and want a taste of an earlier era of the OUP. In the meantime, it is ridiculous for working writers and editors to be nostalgic for redundant information in a book that was always designed to be of practical use.

It was a wise decision of the OUP to break up the huge and unwieldy Oxford Style Manual into the pocket-sized volumes of New Hart's Rules and the Dictionary for Writers and Editors. The advice is rock-solid, and the return to the small format makes the books far more manageable.

This is by far the most useful and concise style manual that I have encountered. I use it on a daily basis. I recommend it without reservation.

JUST ANOTHER STYLE MANUAL
If you are familiar with Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers, this new edition can only disappoint you, and bitterly at that. It has stripped away all the vital and excellent information to make your typesetting look professional and replaced it with mountains of advice for copy editors. Unfortunately this ground is already better covered elsewhere, while the advice for compositors is lost forever. Also lost is much of the archaic charm.