''The ChicagoManualOfStyle ''

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0226104036.01._PI_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
[ISBN 0226104036] The University of Chicago's guide for authors. It is widely used as a reference for how to write English, how to prepare a manuscript for publication, how to arrange bibliographic references, how to prepare an index, how to handle names from most of the countries of the world, and so, proof reading, the issues of book design and so on.

A new edition comes out every decade or so. The 13th Edition predates the desktop publishing revolution, so it's probably worth getting a more recent edition.  (The 15th edition was published on August 1, 2003.)

So much wider in scope than TheElementsOfStyle, although it does cover much the same ground.

I like it a lot. I've read all of the 13th Edition (something that tends to get me strange looks :-) -- PaulHudson

"one of those books that no professional - writer, publisher, scientist, lawyer, teacher - should be without. At nearly 900 pages, it covers almost any writing issue you can imagine, from the huge range of different requirements for citations to pluralizing foreign words to dealing with mathematics in type. Of course, the more common problems of spelling, grammar, and punctuation are discussed exhaustively as well. Divided into three parts (Bookmaking, Style, and Production and Printing), the target readership is without doubt those in the book trade; however, the style section is by far the largest and most useful for the average person."
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Is it, well, American, rather than English? -- DaveHarris

''"Yes, but...". It's an American book, but a lot of it is applicable to British English (and authors) as well. It does recognise that the two languages are different'' -- PaulHudson (who is British)
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''British'' English ??? I think you'll find that English is English, and everyone else simply borrowed it.

''Obviously written by someone on the eastern shore of the puddle.'' -- ...

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As described in SecretOfMonkeyIsland, "It appears to be some sort of religious text."

As an initiate in said religion I must say, no, that would be the Riverside Shakespeare or perhaps something by Alexander Pope. Or indeed the "little book" otherwise known as Strunk&White (TheElementsOfStyle). -- DanielleOviatt
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CategoryBook