I was delighted to be asked to prepare this new edition. In the second edition the amount of resetting and repaging had to be kept to a minimum; but this edition has been entirely revised and reset.

I have, however, kept the original coverage, even though most copy-editing is now done by freelance editors or copy-editors who may work to a house style and a standard design, and at only one stage of the book or journal's production. Since they work on their own, they need written guidance both on copy-editing in general and on how their own work fits in with what other people may be doing to typescripts at different stages.

As before, the book is a collaborative effort.

Lynn Hieatt has written a section on typescripts produced by the author on disk (1.2); there is a section on unbiased, non-sexist writing (6.2); and there are five new appendixes: those on Hebrew, on Arabic, and on Islamic and other calendars were written by Roger Coleman, Susan Moore and Iain White respectively.

Christopher Scarles has revised his material on copyright and permissions; Sheila Champney has masterminded and co-ordinated the revision of chapter 13, with the help of Michael Coles, Karin Fancett and Jane Holland (geology), Jane Farrell (medicine), Peter Hammersley (computing), Sandi Irvine, Jacqueline Mitton (astronomy) and Mairi Sutherland. Susan Moore has revised the section on classical books, Gillian Law her section on books on law, and many people have given me expert advice.