Editing Pictures and other Illustrative Materials in the Art of Book Publishing

The art of book publishing beings with a manuscript – getting it and shaping it towardspublication. In a bid to publicize and spread among people the words, pictures and other formsof illustrative materials the imaginative and mind (authors, photographers, illustrators, etc.)have produced, editors and publishers as it were, open and close the ‘gate’ that standsbetween the information source (authors, photographers, illustrators, etc) and the receiver(reader). Both words and pictures are ‘set in order’ before publication. Pictures and otherillustrative materials must bear captions, stating what the pictures cannot say for themselves.This paper stresses the fact that editing as gate keeping process is not restricted to acceptingand rejecting of manuscripts for publication. It is the process of building a nexus between textand image (pictures and other forms of illustrative materials) during its transformation fromthe authors manuscript to the printer’s plate.