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Hart's Rules

Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford is a reference book and style guide published in England by Oxford University Press (OUP). Hart's Rules had their origins in rules gathered and compiled by Horace Hart over almost three decades during his employment at other printing establishments, but they were first printed as a single broadsheet page for in-house use by the OUP in 1893 while Hart was Controller of the University Press. They were originally intended as a concise style guide for the staff of the OUP, but they developed continually over the years, were published in 1904, and soon gained wider use as a source for authoritative instructions on typesetting style, grammar, punctuation, and usage.

Publishing history

After their first appearance, Hart's rules were reissued in a 2nd edition in 1894, and two further editions in 1895. They continually revised, enlarged, and reissued, and had reached their 15th edition by the time they were finally published, as a book, in March 1904. New editions and reprints continued to appear over almost eight decades, until the 39th edition (1983) which was reprinted four times (with corrections) — the last in 1989. The most modern edition to date was retitled The Oxford Guide to Style (OGS). This was also issued as part of The Oxford Manual of Style which also contained a new edition of The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors. From the OGS was adapted in 2005 New Hart's Rules: The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors which has been promoted as "Hart's Rules for the 21st Century".

In February 2002 Oxford University Press published a new and much longer edition (the fortieth) of Hart's Rules under the title The Oxford Guide to Style, with the marketing slogan "Hart's Rules for the 21st Century", although it is of more value to editors than to typesetters.

The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors is a companion volume intended for the general writer rather than the typesetter. It was originally written as the Authors’ and Printers’ Dictionary by Frederick Howard Collins in 1905, and renamed in 1983.

The Oxford Style Manual (2003) combines The Oxford Guide to Style with a revised Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors. It again contains considerably more information about editing style than Hart's Rules did, but also less about typography.

New Hart's Rules (adapted from The Oxford Guide to Style) was published by Oxford University Press in September 2005.

British and international alternatives

The Oxford is not the only academic publishing style guide, nor even the only British one.

The Cambridge University Press publishes COPY-EDITING: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Authors and Publishers (3rd edition 1992 reprinted ... 2003) by Judith Butcher (ISBN 0521400740).

The Times, a newspaper with an august heritage, published in 2003 its own book, The Times Style and Usage Guide compiled by Tim Austin of that paper's staff and with an introduction by its then editor, Robert Thomson. (ISBN 0723010455)

The Economist, a weekly news journal, published in 2005 the 9th edition of its own book, The Economist Style Guide (published by Profile Books, ISBN 1861979169).

The Modern Humanities Research Association published in 2008 the MHRA Style Guide (ISBN 0947623760).

American equivalents

The Oxford publications may be very loosely regarded as the nearest UK equivalents of the US works The Elements of Style ("Strunk & White") and The Chicago Manual of Style. However, none of these works corresponds exactly to the others. Strunk and White mainly covers prose writing and usage – thus corresponding more closely to works such as Fowler's Modern English Usage (in print in three major editions over 80 years – and also published by Oxford University Press). The Chicago Manual of Style does not include a dictionary, as it expects users to refer to the Webster dictionaries.

Comparable to the guides issued by The Times and The Economist are The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage and perhaps Lapsing Into a Comma: A Curmudgeon's Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print - And How to Avoid Them by Bill Walsh, who is (as is advertized clearly on the book's cover) Copy Desk Chief on the Business Desk at The Washington Post.