Imponderables by David Feldman

Author:David Feldman [Feldman, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Published: 2009-03-17T05:00:00+00:00

Why is the right-hand side of a book always odd-numbered?

It is not difficult to trace our method of pagination. When books were first produced, there was no prefatory material whatsoever: no table of contents, no foreword, not even a title page. The first few paragraphs of the book served the function of introducing the subject of the text and its author. Since, when bound, the first page of a book is on the right-hand side, it is logical that page one would always appear on the right-hand side.

Logical, but not quite accurate. The earliest books were not paginated at all. The title page was not introduced until around 1500. Folios, or page numbers, did not appear until well after that.

As printing spread throughout Europe, introductory material in books became more and more elaborate, and rules were developed about the precise placement of this “front matter.” From the beginning, the right-hand side was always used to display important information. Although readers may not be consciously aware of their placement in a book, we know through experience that all of the vital information we need before starting a book will be contained on the right-hand side. Here is the running order of the front matter as prescribed by Words Into Type, the premier reference book on such matters. Although not every book will contain each of these elements, they will be contained in this order and on the same side of the book. Included is the Roman numeral pagination usually included in the front matter. Notice that not only do the right-hand pages get to carry all the good stuff, but that left-hand pages will be left blank rather than be assigned the honor of possessing important front matter.

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