bladzijdes

Bladzijdes are the sides of a leaf in a book or manuscript that bear writing, printing, or illustrations. A single leaf has two bladzijdes: the front side, traditionally called the recto or voorzijde, and the back side, called the verso or achterzijde. In everyday Dutch, the word bladzijde (or bladzijden in plural) is used for pages, but bladzijde also refers to the physical surface of a leaf in bibliographic context.

In printing and binding, bladzijdes are the surfaces that receive ink or images. Two bladzijdes typically belong to one leaf, ending up as a right-hand and a left-hand page when the book is open. The pagination of a book is arranged to correspond to these bladzijdes, with odd numbers commonly on the recto and even numbers on the verso, though variations occur depending on layout and binding.

Cataloguing and bibliographic descriptions sometimes distinguish by physical extent in leaves rather than pages. Front matter may begin on a right-hand bladzijde, and blank leaves or flyleaves can appear at the beginning or end of a volume as protective sheets. In some books, plates or inserted illustrations occupy separate bladzijdes or folded sheets within the binding.

In summary, bladzijdes denote the two sides of a leaf in a book, forming the basic physical units that carry content, pagination, and binding structure. They are closely related to terms such as recto, verso, folio, and bladzijde, and are a key concept in book production, description, and conservation.