When a line of type has been set in the composing stick it should be read over with care, compared with copy, and any mistakes corrected before the line is justified. A habit of doing this will make cleaner proofs and save a great deal of time and expense. An error corrected at this time saves a second justification of the line. If the error is an omitted word or syllable or a word inserted twice its detection will save the probable over-running of several lines or even of a whole paragraph later.

The lines should also be scanned before being taken from the stick to the galley. A turned letter or a wrong type overlooked in the first examination may be changed by lifting the line a little until the type can be picked out and the right one put in its place.

Do not try to correct a line in the stick when another line or part of a line is in front of it. If a correction makes necessary a change of spaces or a re-justifying of the line, take out all the lines in front, then correct and justify again. This allows the stick to be held in the hand and the types can be handled in the same manner as for the original setting. This will be more convenient than to lay the stick on the case while re-spacing a line in the middle of a stickful.

The use of a bodkin or tweezers is seldom necessary for correcting in the stick or on the galley, unless the type is very small and the measure is narrow.

A little care in revising the lines as they are set, before the first proof is taken, will result in cleaner proofs and will reduce the time for proofreading as well as for later corrections.

Even though the lines have been carefully revised while being set, errors of various kinds will probably be marked on the proof when it comes back from the proofreader. If there are many lines and a number of serious errors the corrections are made at the case. The galley is placed at one side of the case if possible, rather than on top of the case, with the head of the galley and the top of the lines toward the right. When only one stand can be used it may be well to put the type case in the rack under the working shelf and to put the galley on the shelf. This will permit free access to the case for the letters needed in correcting and will give a good resting place for the galley and composing stick.

The compositor stands with his right side to the galley and works with the tops of the lines toward him. The composing rule with a nib is useful at this time. Lines in which corrections are to be made should have leads or rules beside them to help keep them from pi-ing during the operation. If the lines are set solid, leads or rules should be inserted temporarily and taken out when the correcting is finished.

Simple errors like the exchanging of one type for another of the same width, the turning of an inverted character, or the transposition of letters or words, are corrected by pressing the line at both ends to lift it up about one-third of its height and picking out the wrong types with the finger and thumb. The line is then dropped in place and the right types put in.

A line in which there is a change of the spaces or of the justification should be lifted into a composing stick of the right measure for correction. Any important change in a line of type should always be made in a stick, where accurate justification is most readily secured. First place the composing stick conveniently at hand, with its back toward the compositor. Insert the composing rule down at the top of the line in the galley, press both ends of the line together, and raise it up gently; when it is clear of the other lines turn it so that the rule is under, and then transfer to the stick. As a rule, lines of type should be carried in a position which keeps the types themselves horizontal, not perpendicular. In this manner they are supported by the lead or rule underneath. If carried with the feet of the types down they are liable to drop out unless perfectly justified and firmly held.

Many careless compositors persist in correcting lines on the galley in a puttering, botchy manner which results in badly justified lines. The beginner is usually inclined to do the same thing because he has not yet learned to perform with ease and safety the trick of transferring lines back and forth from the galley to the stick. Instead of shirking this operation because it looks difficult, he should practice it until he can do it safely and quickly. A compositor who does not justify his lines properly is rated as a careless workman. If he has nothing to do with the later locking up of the forms for the foundry or the press he is prone to slight this part of his work and thus make additional duties for other workmen, as well as increase the risk of subsequent error or accident.

Corrections in type matter often call for the over-running of the lines; that is, the words must be taken from one line to another, requiring changes in other lines beside the one in which the correction was marked. This procedure takes time and is costly. It means that the entire matter thus re-arranged must be revised to see that new errors have not crept in.

There are two ways of handling the lines for over-running. When a few lines are to be thus changed lift them out one at a time and put them on an extra galley above the working galley, standing them in sequence along the lower rim with the nicks up. Put the first line into the stick, take out words or insert new ones as directed in the proof, then take the words in order from the galley, make any corrections called for, re-space and justify to the end. If the lines are long, a brass rule or composing rule of the right length should be used to measure off the new lines, and these may be taken into the stick a line at a time instead of a few words at a time.

Another method of over-running does not require the extra galley if there is some spare room at the bottom of the matter on its own galley. Insert the rule at the top of the line where the over-run commences and move the matter down the galley a distance equal to the length of the lines and an inch farther. Take the first line into the stick. Then turn a half dozen or more of the following lines so that the nicks of the type are toward the lower rim of the galley, keeping the ends of the lines against the matter farther down. Put a piece of 4-em metal furniture at the other end of the turned lines to prevent letters from falling down. Correct the line in the stick and proceed by taking the words in order from the turned lines. If more lines are to be over-run, take them from their regular position in the galley and turn them nicks down in the same way as the first lot.

The spacing of over-run lines should be done as carefully as for the original setting. Sometimes lines too thinly or too widely spaced in the original may be improved in the re-spacing. Unfortunately, much work of this kind is done in a rush and the second justification is neglected. Yet the difference in time taken to do good spacing and that spent on careless work is often very little.

Hand compositors now do a great deal of correcting and page make-up on type set by machines. This work is often in the nature of specialties, yet the general rules of good spacing and justifying apply here also. Usually greater speed is required, and this means more skill and oftentimes the employment of some special facilities adapted for the particular class of work in hand.

It is a rule that any lines of type pied during corrections and reset must have a mark around them on the revise proof to call attention to them for another reading to be sure that no new error has been made.