Editing Recto and verso (section)

{{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.