Monday, December 10, 2012

anopisthograph

anopisthograph \an-uh-PIS-thuh-graf\, noun:

Manuscript, parchment, or book having writing on only one side of the leaves.

But it never comes to this, the events always end up on the public side of the anopisthograph.
-- Kerry Shawn Keys, A Gathering of Smoke
If text was written on one side only, then the roll was known as an anopisthograph; if on both sides, then as an opisthograph.
-- Roy Stokes, edited by R. Stephen Almagno, Esdaile's Manual of Bibliography

Anopisthograph comes from three Greek roots. It first gained popularity in the 1870s, merging an-, meaning 'un-' or 'not,' with opistho for 'back' referring to writing on both sides of a leaf or page, and 'graph' from -graphos, meaning 'drawn' or 'written.'

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