Copy-editing is largely a matter of common sense in deciding what to do and of thoroughness in doing it; but there are pitfalls an inexperienced copy-editor cannot foresee. Some years ago I wrote a handbook for use within the Cambridge University Press, so that new copy-editors could benefit from the accumulated experience of their predecessors rather than having to learn by making their own mistakes; and it has now been suggested that such a book might be of use in other firms.

It is impossible to write a handbook suitable for every publisher or every kind of typescript. This book is based on my experience at Penguin Books and the Cambridge University Press, where copy-editors work on the premises and see a book through from the estimate stage until the proofs are passed for press. Freelance copy-editors and others working to a more limited brief – or commissioning editors who wish to do their own copy-editing – will be able to make use of the parts relevant to their own job; the things to be done remain the same, although the same person may not do them all.

As I am not writing primarily for authors, I have not, for example, explained the reasons for choosing one system of bibliographical references rather than another. By the time the book reaches the copy-editor the system is chosen, and the copy-editor's job is to make sure that it works efficiently, by eliminating certain faults in it.