Galley proof

In printing and publishing, proofs are "the preliminary versions of publications meant for review by authors, editors, and proofreaders," and the galley proof is the classic stage, named for the "metal trays into which type was laid and tightened into place" of 1650s hand-set letterpress. Galley proofs "may be uncut and unbound," printed before the type was fixed for the run, and publishers also ran them "to reviewers, magazines, and libraries in advance of final publication." The successor term is now the commoner one: an uncorrected proof is "a proof version (on paper or in digital form) which is yet to receive final author and publisher approval." Final proofs come after pagination, when "all mistakes are supposed to have been corrected."

For the self-publisher the galley stage is the last full read before the interior is locked into the print-ready PDF at a fixed trim size; the review copy that grows out of it is the advance reader copy.