Rick McGowan wrote:
> I have English books printed in the mid 1700s that uniformly have the first
> word, sometimes more, of the next page printed below the last word of the
> current page. I believe it is supposed to facilitate fluidity when reading
> aloud.
What it actually facilitates is correct reassembly of dropped stacks
of paper. In those days, books were sent out unbound and were bound
only when bought by the retail customer. Before the invention of
folioing (putting numbers on pages), the first-word-of-next-page
trick helped to guarantee continuity at the binder's. After folios
were common, it was retained out of tradition.
-- John Cowan cowan@ccil.org e'osai ko sarji la lojban.
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