Rules for compositors and readers at the University Press, Oxford · Oxford University Press
ITALIC TYPE
_NOTE.—A list of foreign and anglicized words and phrases, showing which should be printed in roman and which in italic, is given on pp. 35-7._ In many works it is now common to print titles of books in italic, instead of in inverted commas. This must be determined by the directions given with the copy, but the practice must be uniform throughout the work. Words or phrases cited from foreign languages (unless anglicized) should be in italic. Short extracts from books, whether foreign or English, should not be in italic but in roman (between inverted commas, or otherwise, as directed on p. 63). Names of periodicals should be in italic. Inconsistency is often caused by the prefix _The_ being sometimes printed in italic, and sometimes roman. As a rule, print the definite article in roman, as the _Standard_, the _Daily News_. _The Times_ is to be an exception, as that newspaper prefers to have it so. _The_, if it is part of the title of a book, should also be in italic letters. Print names of ships[44] in italic. In this case, print ‘the’ in roman, as it is often uncertain whether ‘the’ is part of the title or not. For example, ‘the _King George_’, ‘the _Revenge_’; also put other prefixes in roman, as ‘H.M.S. _Dreadnought_’. ad loc., cf., e.g., et seq., ib., ibid., id., i.e., loc. cit., q.v., viz.[45], not to be in italic. Print _c._ (= _circa_), _ante_, _infra_, _passim_, _post_, _supra_, &c.
Italic _s._ and _d._ to be generally used to express shillings and pence; and the sign £ (except in special cases) to express the pound sterling. But in catalogues and similar work the diagonal sign / or ‘shilling-mark’ is sometimes preferred to divide figures representing shillings and pence. The same sign is occasionally used in dates, as 4/2/04. In Mathematical works, theorems are usually printed in italic. [44] Italicizing the names of ships is thus recognized by Victor Hugo: ‘Il l’avait nommé _Durande_. La Durande,—nous ne l’appellerons plus autrement. On nous permettra également, quel que soit l’usage typographique, de ne point souligner ce nom Durande, nous conformant en cela à la pensée de Mess Lethierry pour qui la Durande était presque une personne.’—V. HUGO, _Travailleurs de la mer_, 3rd (1866) edit., Vol. I, p. 129.—H. H. [45] This expression, although a symbol rather than an abbreviation, must be printed with a full point after the z.—H. H.
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