authorities of the first rank, three English, Stormonth, the Imperial
Dictionary, and the Oxford Dictionary; and four American, Webster's
International, Worcester, the Century Dictionary, and the Standard
Dictionary. American printers may ordinarily disregard the English
authorities.

Any one of the four American authorities may be safely followed. In cases
where two spellings are given in the dictionary consulted, take the first
one. Ordinarily a printing office adopts one of the great authorities as a
standard and conforms the office style to it. All office copy will follow
it and all errors in copy from outside will be corrected by it. Spellings
differing from it will be regarded as errors, even though supported by
other authorities.

This rule, however, is subject to one very important exception. The author
has an unquestionable right to choose his own dictionary or to use any
spelling for which there is any authority, English or American. If he has
his own ideas on the subject of spelling he should be very careful that his
manuscript is correctly spelled according to his ideas, and clearly written
or typed. He should also indicate on the manuscript the authority he wishes
used in correcting the spelling in case of mistakes or illegible passages.
Every care should be taken to make the manuscript copy as correct as
possible and as legible as possible. Such care may be very troublesome at
first, but it will result in great saving of expense.

In addition to the authorities named there are the rules and "reformed"
spellings adopted by the American Philological Association and published by
the United States Government. These are followed fully in some offices,
partly in others, and in many not at all. This is a question of the office
style and the author's wish. If copy is clear and spelled according to any