Latin script , f. 189v-190r In
codicology, each physical sheet (''
, abbreviated fol.
or f.'') of a
manuscript is numbered, and the sides are referred to as '
and ', 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
1r, or with a superscript
o indicating the
ablative '
, ', as in
1ro. This terminology has been standard since the beginnings of modern codicology in the 17th century. In 2011, Martyn Lyons argued that the term '''' "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). The terms "recto" and "verso" are also used in the codicology of manuscripts written in
right-to-left scripts, like
Syriac,
Arabic and
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; '''' 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 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, and hence all recto pages will have odd numbers and all verso pages will have even numbers. In many early printed books or
incunables and still in some 16th-century books (e.g. 's ), it is the ("leaves") rather than the pages, that are numbered. Thus, each carries a consecutive number on its recto side, while on the verso side there is no number. This was also very common in
e.g. internal company reports in the 20th century, before double-sided printers became commonplace in offices.
Cyrillic script , folio 3 verso'',
pencil-marked "3 об" in the top left corner. At
Izbornyk, this is written as "/л.3об./". In
Cyrillic script, the letters "лл" and "об." are abbreviations used in a similar way to
recto and
verso. •
recto is "лл.", the abbreviation for "лицевая сторона"
litsevaja storona (
Russian) or "лицьова сторона"
lytsjova storona (
Ukrainian), meaning "front side" or "face side". •
verso is, "об.", the abbreviation for "оборотная сторона"
oborotnaja storona (Russian) or "обернена сторона"
obernena storona (Ukrainian), meaning "reverse side" or "back side". Therefore, when referring to the front and back of a page in Cyrillic documents, "лл." would correspond to
recto (front), and "об." would correspond to
verso (back, reverse). This applies to
pencil-marked folios of medieval and early modern manuscripts, such as the
Hypatian Codex, in
Old East Slavic,
Old Church Slavonic,
Ruthenian, or the (early) modern
East Slavic languages and some
South Slavic languages. It may also be used in modern critical editions of those manuscripts, such as by the
Complete Collection of Rus' Chronicles (PSRL), or its digitised editions on websites such as
Izbornyk in
Ukraine, or the
National Library of Russia's
Laurentian Codex Project. For example, when the Izbornyk edition of the Hypatian Codex reads "/л.3об./", that means "folio 3, reverse side" (об.;
verso). This is the exact spot where the text of the previous page, folio 3
recto (/л.3/), ends and that of folio 3
verso begins. Early scholars of East Slavic manuscripts such as the Supraśl Manuscript used
ink to mark page numbers, while later researchers preferred to use
pencils. The page numbers would be helpful for themselves or colleagues to keep track of the manuscript's structure, and to make notes referring to specific places in the text. A major issue with using ink, however, was that the numbering could be wrong, and thus a scholar could accidentally permanently damage a highly valuable manuscript by adding incorrect markings in unerasable ink. For this reason, later researchers preferred to mark page numbers with pencils, which could be easily corrected with an
eraser (rubber) without doing significant damage to the precious archival materials. ==See also==