| My mother was academic and had always wanted to teach, but could not afford to go to college. So she became a proof reader at 'Ebby's' aka Ebenezer Baylis & Son of Worcester, where she began work in 1924 and stayed for 38 years. My mother's office was a small glass box, which was unbearably hot in summer and freezing in winter. Her reader sat beside her and there was a strong atmosphere of concentration as my mother bent over the proofs, listening to the monotonous tones of her assistant. She 'proofed' many famous books, fiction and non-fiction, including 'Peyton Place' and for children, 'Charlotte's Web' as well as the famous 'Warburg Journal', which was not her favourite. She dreaded making a mistake and a book being passed for printing with errors in it. Later on, she always said she could never read books for pleasure as she was always looking for mistakes. |
