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{{short description|"Front" and "back" sides of a leaf of paper}}
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[[File:Recto and verso.svg|thumb|Left-to-right language books (e.g. books in Western languages): ''recto'' is the front [[Page (paper)|page]], ''verso'' is 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.]]
[[File:Recto and verso RTL.svg|thumb|Right-to-left language books: recto is the front page, verso is the back page ([[Horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts#Japanese and Traditional Chinese|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.]]

'''''Recto''''' is the "right" or "front" side and '''''verso''''' is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a '''leaf of paper''' ({{Lang|la|folium}}) in a bound item such as a [[codex]], [[book]], [[broadsheet]], or [[pamphlet]].

In [[double-sided printing]], each leaf has two [[Page (paper)|pages]] – front and back. In modern books, the physical [[sheet of paper|sheets of paper]] are 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 a [[folio]], a word also used for a book or pamphlet made with this technique.
 
[[Looseleaf]] paper 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: {{Lang|la|rēctō foliō}} and ''{{Lang|la|versō foliō}}'' (which translate as "on the right side of the leaf" and "on the back side of the leaf"). The two opposite [[Page (paper)|pages]] themselves are called ''{{Lang|la|folium rēctum}}'' and ''{{Lang|la|folium versum}}'' in Latin,<ref>
e.g. ''Quibus carminibus finitur totum primum folium versum (rectum vacat) voluminis'' "These poems finish the full back page (the front is blank) of the first leaf of the volume"
[Giovanni Battista Audiffredi], ''Catalogus historico-criticus Romanarum editionum saeculi XV'' (1783), [https://books.google.com/books?id=lvwUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA225  p. 225].
</ref> and the ablative ''{{Lang|la|rēctō}}'', ''{{Lang|la|versō}}'' already imply that the text on the page (and not the physical page itself) are referred to.

==Usage==
[[File:Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne - Saint Martin f.189v-190r.jpg|thumb|[[Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany]], f. 189v-190r]]
In [[codicology]], each physical sheet (''{{Lang|la|folium}}'', abbreviated ''fol.'' or ''f.'') of a [[manuscript]] is numbered, and the sides are referred to as ''{{Lang|la|folium rēctum}}'' and ''{{Lang|la|folium versum}}'', abbreviated as ''r'' and ''v'' respectively. Editions of manuscripts will thus mark the position of text in the original manuscript in the form ''fol. 1r'', sometimes with the ''r'' and ''v'' in superscript, as in ''1<sup>r</sup>'', or with a superscript ''o'' indicating the [[Ordinal indicator#Latin|ablative]] ''{{Lang|la|rēctō foliō}}'', ''{{Lang|la|versō}}'', as in ''1r<sup>o</sup>''.<ref> e.g.<!--random recent examples of the practice, there are thousands to choose from, but it would be better to cite some kind of "introduction to codicology" instead--> Roberts, ''Longinus on the Sublime: The Greek Text Edited After the Paris Manuscript'' (2011),  [https://books.google.com/books?id=U-JBqP0i2hcC&pg=PA170 170]; Wijngaards, ''The Ordained Women Deacons of the Church's First Millennium'' (2012), [https://books.google.com/books?id=qHKGVQbVEmIC&pg=PA232 232]; etc. <!--superscript r<sup>o</sup> apparently a French practice:, don't know about the ASCII "º" character (maybe Italian?)--> Tylus, ''Manuscrits français de la collection berlinoise disponibles à la Bibliothèque Jagellonne de Cracovie (XVIe-XIXe siècles)'' (2010)[https://books.google.com/books?id=v4TaJu_ErioC&pg=PA274]</ref> This terminology has been standard since the beginnings of modern codicology in the 17th century.

In 2011, Martyn Lyons argued that the term ''{{Lang|la|rēctum}}'' "right, correct, proper" for the front side of the leaf derives from the use of [[papyrus]] in [[late 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).<ref>Martyn Lyons (2011). ''Books: A Living History''. Getty Publications. p. 21. {{ISBN|9781606060834}}.</ref><!--is this original speculation due to Lyons or does he have some kind of basis for that? I.e. is there any evidence of ''rectum'' used of a papyrus page in Late or Classical Latin? If so, it is not mentioned in Lewis & Short.-->

The terms "recto" and "verso" are also used in the codicology of manuscripts written in [[right-to-left script]]s, like [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]], [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] and [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]]. 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 each [[folio]] remains first verso, then recto, regardless of [[writing direction]].

The terms are carried over into [[printing]]; ''{{Lang|fr|recto-verso}}''<ref>''Recto verso'' is an  expression in [[French language|French]] that means "two sides of a sheet or page". In [[Flanders]] the term recto verso is also used to indicate two-sided printing. Duplex printers are referred to as recto verso printers.</ref> is the norm for printed books but was an important advantage of the [[printing press]] over the much older Asian [[woodblock printing]] method, 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 the [[annotation]] of scholarly books, particularly in [[bilingual edition]] translations.

The "recto" and "verso" terms can also be employed for the front and back of a one-sheet artwork, particularly in [[drawing]].  A {{Lang|fr|recto-verso}} drawing is a sheet with drawings on both sides, for example in a [[sketchbook]]—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,<ref>{{cite book |last=Drake |first=Paul |date=2007 |title=You Ought to Write All That Down |chapter=The Basic Elements and Order of a Book |publisher=Heritage Books |isbn=978-0-7884-0989-9 |pages=1}}</ref> and hence all recto pages will have odd numbers and all verso pages will have even numbers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gilad |first=Suzanne |date=2007 |title=Copyediting & Proofreading For Dummies |publisher=[[For Dummies]] |isbn=9780470121719 |pages=209}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Merriam–Webster, Inc. |date=1998 |title=Merriam-Webster's Manual for Writers and Editors |publisher=Merriam–Webster |isbn=9780877796220 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersm0000merr/page/337 337] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersm0000merr/page/337 }}</ref>

In many early printed books or [[incunable|incunables]] and still in some 16th-century books (e.g. {{Lang|pt|[[João de Barros]]|italic=no}}'s {{Lang|pt|[[Décadas da Ásia]]}}), it is the {{Lang|la|folia}} ("leaves") rather than the pages, that are numbered. Thus, each {{Lang|la|folium}} carries a consecutive number on its recto side, while on the verso side there is no number.<ref>See e.g. a modern reprint of the 3rd ''Década'' (1563): ''Ásia de João de Barros: Dos feitos que os Portugueses fizeram no descobrimento e conquista dos mares e terras do Oriente. Tercera Década''. Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda, 1992.</ref>  This was also very common in ''e.g.'' internal company reports in the 20th century, before double-sided printers became commonplace in offices.

==See also==
* [[Book design]]
* [[Obverse and reverse]] in coins
* [[Book design#Page spread|Page spread]]
* [[Page (paper)]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary|recto|verso}}

{{Book structure}}
{{Typography terms}}

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[[Category:Printing]]
[[Category:Book design]]
[[Category:Book terminology]]
[[Category:Papyrus]]
[[Category:Codicology]]