Recto and verso

"Recto" redirects here. For the road in Manila, Philippines, seeRecto Avenue.For the LRT station, seeRecto station.

"Recto Verso" redirects here. For the Zaz album, seeRecto Verso(album).

"Verso" redirects here. For other uses, seeVerso (disambiguation).

Left-to-right language books (e.g. books in Western languages):rectois the frontpage,versois the back page. In this picture, the recto page shown is of the following leaf in a book and hence comes next to the verso of the previous leaf.

Right-to-left language books: recto is the front page, verso is the back page (vertical Chinese, vertical Japanese,Arabic, or Hebrew). In this picture, the recto page shown is of the following leaf in a book and hence comes next to the verso of the previous leaf.

Rectois the "right" or "front" side andversois the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on aleaf of paper(folium) in a bound item such as acodex,book,broadsheet,orpamphlet.

Indouble-sided printing,each leaf has twopages– front and back. In modern books, the physicalsheets of paperare stacked and folded in half, producing two leaves and four pages for each sheet. For example, the outer sheet in a 16-page book will have one leaf with pages 1 (recto) and 2 (verso), and another leaf with pages 15 (recto) and 16 (verso). Pages 1 and 16, for example, are printed on the same side of the physical sheet of paper, combining recto and verso sides of different leaves. The number of pages in a book using this binding technique must thus be a multiple of four, and the number of leaves must be a multiple of two, but unused pages are typically left unnumbered and uncounted. A sheet folded in this manner is known as afolio,a word also used for a book or pamphlet made with this technique.

Looseleafpaper consists of unbound leaves. Sometimes single-sided or blank leaves are used for numbering or counting and abbreviated "l." instead of "p." for the number of pages.

Etymology

The terms are shortened from Latin:rēctō foliōandversō foliō(which translate as "on the right side of the leaf" and "on the back side of the leaf" ). The two oppositepagesthemselves are calledfolium rēctumandfolium versumin Latin,and the ablativerēctō,versōalready imply that the text on the page (and not the physical page itself) are referred to.

Usage

Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany,f. 189v-190r

Incodicology,each physical sheet (folium,abbreviatedfol.orf.) of amanuscriptis numbered, and the sides are referred to asfolium rēctumandfolium versum,abbreviated asrandvrespectively. Editions of manuscripts will thus mark the position of text in the original manuscript in the formfol. 1r,sometimes with therandvin superscript, as in1^r,or with a superscriptoindicating theablativerēctō foliō,versō,as in1r^o.This terminology has been standard since the beginnings of modern codicology in the 17th century.

In 2011, Martyn Lyons argued that the termrēctum"right, correct, proper" for the front side of the leaf derives from the use ofpapyrusinlate antiquity,as a different grain ran across each side, and only one side was suitable to be written on, so that usually papyrus would carry writing only on the "correct", smooth side (and just in exceptional cases would there be writing on the reverse side of the leaf).

The terms "recto" and "verso" are also used in the codicology of manuscripts written inright-to-left scripts,likeSyriac,ArabicandHebrew.However, as these scripts are written in the other direction to the scripts witnessed in European codices, the recto page is to the left while the verso is to the right. The reading order of eachfolioremains first verso, then recto, regardless ofwriting direction.

The terms are carried over intoprinting;recto-versois the norm for printed books but was an important advantage of theprinting pressover the much older Asianwoodblock printingmethod, which printed by rubbing from behind the page being printed, and so could only print on one side of a piece of paper. The distinction between recto and verso can be convenient in theannotationof scholarly books, particularly inbilingual editiontranslations.

The "recto" and "verso" terms can also be employed for the front and back of a one-sheet artwork, particularly indrawing.Arecto-versodrawing is a sheet with drawings on both sides, for example in asketchbook—although usually in these cases there is no obvious primary side. Some works are planned to exploit being on two sides of the same piece of paper, but usually the works are not intended to be considered together. Paper was relatively expensive in the past; good drawing paper still is much more expensive than normal paper.

By book publishing convention, the first page of a book, and sometimes of each section and chapter of a book, is a recto page,and hence all recto pages will have odd numbers and all verso pages will have even numbers.

In many early printed books orincunablesand still in some 16th-century books (e.g.João de Barros'sDécadas da Ásia), it is thefolia( "leaves" ) rather than the pages, that are numbered. Thus, eachfoliumcarries a consecutive number on its recto side, while on the verso side there is no number.This was also very common ine.g.internal company reports in the 20th century, before double-sided printers became commonplace in offices.

See also

• Book design
• Obverse and reversein coins
• Page spread
• Page (paper)