CORRECTION, in Printing, the act of retrenching the faults in a work; or the reading which the corrector gives the first proofs, to point out and amend the faults to be rectified by the compositor.
The corrections are placed on the margin of each page, right against the line where the faults are found. There are different characters used to express different corrections, as D or d, delete, for any thing to be effaced or left out. When any thing is to be inserted, the place is marked in the line with a caret , and the insertion added in the margin. When a word, syllable, &c. is to be altered, it is erased out of the proof, and that to be put in its room written in the margin; always observing, if there be several mistakes in the same line, that the corrections in the margin be separated by little bars, or strokes, |. If a space be omitted, its place is marked with a caret, and the margin with . If a space be wrong placed, as in the middle of a word, the two parts are connected with a curve, and the same character put in the margin. If a letter be inverted, it is expressed on the margin with . If any thing be transposed, it is marked thus: This shortest [are the] follies best; for the shortest follies are the best; and in the margin is added tr. in a circle. If Roman characters are to be changed for Italic, or vice versa, a line is drawn under them thus, and Roman or Italic added in the margin: if to capitals, a double line. If a word or sentence is entirely omitted, the place is marked with a caret, and in the margin is inserted the word out. If the letters of a word stand too far asunder, a line is drawn under them, and in the margin is put a crooked line or hook, thus .