Is the Latin abbreviation "f" (folio) commonly used in page ranges?


When citing from an inclusive range of two consecutive pages such as pages 25 and 26, one can write



25–26



or



25f



I know this is a question of style, but I am having little luck with Google on this one. Is one much more common than the other? Is f only used with pages, or with lines of a poem and other references as well? Are there any rules which allow both to be used in different circumstances? Does CMoS have anything to say about this?


I am also aware of ff, but unlike f, there is no equivalent for “25ff” other than the strange-looking “25–” (no upper limit).



Answer



According to the MLA Style Manual✲ , 3d ed., 8.4, f./ff. after a page or line number means “and the following page(s) or line(s)”, but the abbreviation is “no longer recommended”; explicit page numbers are called for, e.g. 25-26. (Note that MLA now also deprecates use of p. and pp.)


Folio (abbreviated fol., but again, the abbreviation is “no longer recommended”) designates either a book published in the bifolium format (each full sheet of paper folded once to produce four pages) or a leaf of a manuscript or book.


MLA does not provide a citation format for unpaginated MSS or books; traditionally, this is done by folio number followed by r (for recto, the front or right-hand page of the leaf) or v (for verso, the back or left-hand page of the leaf), thus: 12v-13r.


EDIT, to ameliorate the provinicialism of the foregoing:
✲ MLA, the Modern Language Association, is the leading professional association of US scholars in critical and historical studies of modern languages, and its Style Manual is followed by most publishers in those fields.


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