In printing

Printing

Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....

 and publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

, proofs are the preliminary versions of publications meant for review by authors, editors, and proofreaders, often with extra wide margins. Galley proofs may be uncut and unbound

Bookbinding

Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block.-Origins of the book:...

, or in some cases electronic

Electronic publishing

Electronic publishing or ePublishing includes the digital publication of e-books and electronic articles, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. Electronic publishing has become common in scientific publishing where it has been argued that peer-reviewed scientific journals are in...

. They are created for proofreading

Proofreading

Proofreading is the reading of a galley proof or computer monitor to detect and correct production-errors of text or art. Proofreaders are expected to be consistently accurate by default because they occupy the last stage of typographic production before publication.-Traditional method:A proof is...

 and copyediting purposes, but may be used for promotional and review purposes also.

Galley proofs are so named because in the days of hand-set type

Letterpress printing

Letterpress printing is relief printing of text and image using a press with a "type-high bed" printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image...

, the printer would set the page into galleys, the metal trays into which type was laid and tightened into place. These would be used to print a limited number of copies for editing mark-up

Proofreading

Proofreading is the reading of a galley proof or computer monitor to detect and correct production-errors of text or art. Proofreaders are expected to be consistently accurate by default because they occupy the last stage of typographic production before publication.-Traditional method:A proof is...

. The printer would then receive the edits, re-arrange the type, and print the final copy.

Some publishers use paper galley proofs as advance reading copies (ARCs) - the short-order pre-publication versions publishers use to disseminate review copies)

Advance copy

As a marketing tool, publishers provide free copies of new titles to booksellers, journalists and even celebrities.Such books are variously referred to as readers editions, an advance copy, an advance reading copy, ARC or ARE...

, providing them to reviewers, magazines, and libraries in advance of final publication. These print-on-demand (POD) pre-publication publicity proofs are normally bound, but may be lacking illustrations (or have them in black and white only). Proofs in electronic form are rarely offered for advance reading.

Proofs issued in the proofreading and copy-editing review phase are called galleys or galley proofs; proofs created in a near-final version for editing and checking purposes are called page proofs. In the page-proof stage, mistakes are supposed to have been corrected; to correct a mistake at this stage is expensive, and authors are discouraged from making many changes to page proofs. Page layouts are examined closely in the page proof stage. Page proofs also have the final pagination

Pagination

Pagination is the process of dividing information into discrete pages, either electronic pages or printed pages. Today the latter are usually simply instances of the former that have been outputted to a printing device, such as a desktop printer or a modern printing press...

, which facilitates compiling the index

Index (publishing)

An index is a list of words or phrases and associated pointers to where useful material relating to that heading can be found in a document...

.

These days, as paper and digital forms share the final product that readers actually use, the term 'uncorrected proof' is more common as a term than galley proof, which refers exclusively to a paper proof version. Uncorrected proof describes the penultimate proof version (on paper or in digital form) yet to receive final author and publisher approval, the term appearing on the covers of ARCs.