This editorial style guide defines a consistent, publication-ready house style for all content produced under this publication. It covers rules for both the English and German language versions of descriptions and catalogue texts. Use the tabs below to switch between the two rule sets.
Based on the Chicago Manual of Style, adapted for art, museum, and catalogue contexts. Each table below has three columns: the first names the element or case, the second gives the rule, and the third shows a concrete example.
Titles and Formatting
Books, artworks, films, albumsItalic
Guernica, The Godfather
Articles, chaptersDouble quotation marks
“Introduction”
Exhibition catalogues, series titlesItalic
Miniatures from the Romantic Era
Quotations
Primary quotesCurly double quotes
“as he wrote”
Quotes within quotesCurly single quotes
“he said ‘well’”
Distancing quotesSame curly double quotes — never italics
the “authentic” copy
Punctuation
Oxford commaAlways use in lists of three or more
red, green, and blue
Punctuation with quotesPeriods and commas inside closing quotes; colons and semicolons outside
“delicate,”
Round vs square bracketsRound ( ) for parenthetical remarks; square [ ] for editorial additions only
(attributed)
EllipsisSingle character … (U+2026), not three periods
[…]
Dashes and Hyphens
Hyphen (-)Compound modifiers
18th-century painting
En dash (–)Ranges, connections
1995–1996, London–Paris
Em dash ( — )Parenthetical remarks, with spaces
a work — begun in 1910 — was
Exhibition date rangesEn dash, no spaces
Celle 2008–2012
Life date rangesEn dash, no spaces
(1744–1818)
Page rangesEn dash, no spaces
pp. 128–9
Numbers and Dates
Numbers one–nineSpelled out
five objects
Numbers 10+Numerals
13 items
PercentagesNo space before %
45%
Decimal separatorPeriod
3.8 cm
DatesInternational style: Day month year
15 November 1988
CenturiesNoun / adjective
18th century / 18th-century
Typography and Symbols
Minus sign− (U+2212), not hyphen
−5°C
TemperatureNo space before °C / °F
22°C, −18°F
Multiplication× (not x)
3.8 × 3.4 cm
Dimensions× with spaces
3.8 × 3.4 × 2.1 cm
Foreign Words and Latin Terms
Uncommon foreign wordsItalic on first use
trompe-l’œil
Common or repeated termsRoman
en plein air
Latin abbreviationsRoman
sic, et al., ibid.
CircaAbbreviated as “c.” — not “ca.” which is a Germanic form
c. 1790
Quotations and Editorial Interventions
OmissionsBrackets + ellipsis
[…]
AdditionsSquare brackets
[editorial note]
Attribution and References
Attributed authorshipParenthetical note
(attributed)
AbbreviationsFull form at first use
watercolour and gouache (w/g)
Co-authorsSlash without spaces for shorthand citations
Pappe/Schmieglitz-Otten 2008
Genitive of proper nounsApostrophe + s, even after terminal s
Keats’s odes, Velázquez’s palette
Links
Anchor textDescriptive — never “click here”
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Summary
This house style ensures typographic precision, clarity, and consistency across editorial and catalogue content while remaining aligned with modern Chicago standards.