# Recto and verso

> Source: https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/recto-and-verso

Last updated: 2026-09-06
Category: Typesetting & layout
Also called: Right-hand page · Left-hand page

Recto is the right-hand page of an open book and verso the left; rectos carry odd page numbers and are where parts and chapters traditionally begin.

## Definition

**Recto** and **verso** are the two faces of a leaf. In a left-to-right language the recto is the right-hand page of an open spread and the verso is the left-hand page, the back of the previous leaf. The terms are Latin — *recto folio*, "on the right of the leaf", and *verso folio*, "on the turned leaf".

The convention that governs almost all book layout follows from them: **rectos carry odd folios** (1, 3, 5) and versos even ones. Because a reader's eye lands on the recto first, the important starts go there — the half title, the title page, the dedication, each part title and, in traditional typesetting, every chapter opener. When the previous chapter ends on a recto, a blank verso is inserted to make that possible.

In right-to-left scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew the physical sides swap, but the logic — the first-seen page is the recto — is unchanged.

## Related

- [Folio](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/folio)
- [Front matter](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/front-matter)
- [Chapter](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/chapter)
- [Part](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/part)
- [Turn a PDF Into a Printed Book](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/tools/pdf-to-printed-book)
- [Book Publishing Glossary — 59 Terms Defined](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary)
- [Bindery — the Claude-powered book studio](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/bindery)

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