Den 12. apr. 2011 kl. 01:23 skrev Geoffrey Heard:

>> But then everyone - well, I donno about the Arabs - puts volumes of a book onto shelves backwards with the first page of volume 1 right next to the last page of volume 2.
> 
> Huh? I always do my shelves l > r. I thought everyone did.
> 
> 

Take volume 1-4 of your encyclopedia out and put them on the table, title page up. Volume 4 is on the top. Reading past the last page of the top volume (4) brings you to the first page of volume 3. My very Norwegian aunt always shelved her encyclopedias right to left for this very reason, so they would come in the right order when taken out as a group.

Anyway, how the Arabs do it can be often be seen because in flashy modern editions they let the embossed title run across the backs of multiple volumes, so they are readable when they shelved are in the "correct" (publisher-intended) order. Which is r -> l. So, they are in the same situation as the latinos.

Knut