>>... when I opened the recovered file, lo and behold, the problem 
>>appeared to have been cured! I changed the printer from Printer B 
>>to Printer A, and upon closing and reopening the database, Printer 
>>A was still the default. Also, selecting a different record and 
>>layout was preserved across a close and reopen.
>>
>>I can't explain exactly what may have been wrong with the 
>>unrepaired database; but, for now at least, I think I'm good to go. 
>>Thanks to all who offered ideas and advice; and the kewpie doll 
>>goes to Tim Mansour, who raised the possibility of file corruption.
>
>There was likely nothing wrong with the database. If you go back to
>the Recover dialog and specify the "Advanced" options you'll see that
>one of the options is to "Delete cached settings." If you had selected
>only this option you likely would have seen the same thing.
>
>Look at your Recover Log. It will tell you if the recover process
>changed anything or not.

Fortunately, I left the problematic file around as back-up until I 
became confident in the recovered file. Copying the original version 
and performing a limited recovery on it, per the above suggestion, 
shows that the analysis and suggested correction is spot on! Had I 
been smarter or the option for deleting the cached settings not been 
hidden, I could have cured my problem much more definitively, for the 
benefit of those watching over my shoulder during this thread.

I guess since I'd already awarded a kewpie doll to the person whose 
indirect analysis led to my indirect "solution", I should award two 
kewpie dolls to Cornelius Walker for his completely correct analysis 
and solution. Thanks, Corn; care to conjecture as to how the Printer 
B setting came to be cached in the first place? That's about the only 
puzzle still left standing.