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U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual:
About
 By
act of Congress the Public Printer of the U.S. Government Printing Office
(GPO) is authorized to determine the form and style of Government printing.
The Style Manual is the product of many years of public printing experience,
and its rules are based on principles of good usage and custom in the
printing trade.
Editors and writers whose disciplines have taught them aspects of style
different from rules followed in this Manual will appreciate the difficulty
of establishing a single standard. The Style Manual has served Federal
printers since 1894, and with this 29th edition, the traditions of printing
and graphic arts are carried forward into new technologies. The 29th edition
is the only version available online via GPO Access.
Essentially, the Style Manual is a standardization device designed to
achieve uniform word and type treatment, and aiming for economy of word
use. Such rules as are laid down for the submission of copy to the GPO
point to the most economical manner for the preparation and typesetting
of manuscript. Following such rules eliminates additional chargeable processing
by the GPO.
It should be remembered that the Style Manual is primarily a GPO printer's
stylebook. Easy rules of grammar cannot be prescribed, for it is assumed
that editors are versed in correct expression. As a printer's book, it
necessarily uses terms that are obvious to those skilled in the graphic
arts. A glossary of such printing terms to be complete would unnecessarily
burden the Manual.
Its rules cannot be regarded as rigid, for the printed word assumes many
shapes and variations in type presentation. An effort has been made to
provide complete coverage of those elements that enter into the translation
of manuscript into type.
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