[net.religion.jewish] next word at bottom of previous page

dave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman) (08/06/85)

In many "old-style" siddurim, and in (it seems) most
seforim printed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
the word which begins a page is printed at the bottom of
the previous page, offset somewhat, in small type.
I'm curious as to where this custom began, and why it
is (or was) done. I can think of several possible reasons:

	(1) to let the reader (particularly when davening)
	    continue without interruption while his eyes
	    move to the next page
	(2) to let the reader make sure he's on the right
	    page when he moves his eyes and/or turns the page
	(3) as a guide to the binders after printing, so the
	    pages are put in the right order (perhaps this began
	    before pages were regularly numbered?)

Anyone know? Any speculation?

(Post to the net, don't mail me. It's about time we got some
useful discussion going and stopped mudslinging.)

Dave Sherman
Toronto
-- 
{  ihnp4!utzoo  pesnta  utcs  hcr  decvax!utcsri  }  !lsuc!dave