Irreverent bookishness from Matt Poland, a writer and information/library science grad student in Durham, NC. Overly fond of scansion and hyperlinks.

interleaf, n. 1. An extra leaf inserted between the regular leaves of a book, usually blank to receive notes or additional matter; also transf. matter such as is written on such a leaf. (OED)

“When a book is bound with blank leaves alternating with the printed leaves it is said to be interleaved.”
(from ABC for Book Collectors, 8th edition. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2004.)

“Being a matrix for the susurration of texts”:

Narcissism, the unstable self, the fractured ego, Maud thought, who am I? A matrix for a susurration of texts and codes? It was both a pleasant and an unpleasant idea, this requirement that she think of herself as intermittent and partial. There was the question of the awkward body. The skin, the breath, the eyes, the hair, their history, which did seem to exist.

– A.S. Byatt, Possession, p. 273

Apropos of nothing: