The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part 43

NOTE ON THE TERMS 'RECTO' AND 'VERSO', 'FRONT' AND 'BACK' AND THE USE OF ARROWS (→, ↓)

The terms 'recto' and 'verso' are strictly applicable to papyrus only in those cases (which are in a minority) where a recognizable part of a roll is preserved. If there is doubt whether a roll can be recognized, the terms used here are 'front' and 'back', in conjunction with arrows placed beside the first line of the text to indicate the direction of the fibres in relation to the writing. A horizontal arrow (→) means that the fibres run in the same direction as the lines of writing; a vertical arrow (↓) means that the fibres run at right angles to the lines of writing.

To avoid confusion it must be stressed that an arrow of this sort refers always to the relationship of the writing to the surface on which it stands, that is, the vertical arrow is not used simply to indicate the back of papyrus which has on the front a text running parallel with the fibres. It means that the writing of the text on the side in question runs at right angles to the fibres. The addresses of letters and other endorsements are often written parallel with the fibres on the back, while the main text is written parallel with the fibres on the front. It will be readily understood that because of the method of manufacture of papyrus sheets this means that the endorsement runs at right angles to the text on the front. However, since an arrow refers only to a single surface, such an endorsement will be preceded by the note 'Back →'.

These signs can be applied to codices, since in them the writing is normally only horizontal across the page. The arrow in horizontal position → will therefore indicate a page of a codex in which the fibres run in the same direction as the writing, horizontally; an arrow in a vertical position will mean that the writing, if horizontal, crosses the fibres, which are by inference vertical. It is necessary to set this point out explicitly since the basis of use of the signs → ↓ is not that laid down in P. Antinoopolis III p. xii; and a theoretical defect of the new basis is that it cannot be used to describe a page of a codex which bears no writing.

When the terms 'recto' and 'verso' are applied to parchment codices, it is proposed to retain the time-honoured meanings 'recto' = a right-hand page, 'verso' = a left-hand page.