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[> then we don't need page numbers.
we still need them, because prior aspects of the record
use them. we cannot forfeit all those earlier pointers...
> We do need to know how closely
> the electronic version resembles its print source.
and, for that, we need to sync the two. by page number.
(because, realistically, what else are we going to use?)]
Page numbers are simply a way of keeping track of pages. The earliest printed books don't have them. For incunabulae, the books published in the second half of the 15th century, there were numbers, not of pages but of groups of pages, so that when the book was put together for binding the sections would not be out of order. Manuscripts may or may not have page numbers. Sometimes the first word of the following page was printed (or written) at the bottom of the preceding page to establish sequence.
What really counts, for the most part, is textual accuracy--that is, identity of the two texts. For routine purposes, one wouldn't have to refer to the original if the electronic copy were certifiably accurate. But there's the rub, perhaps. When I edit an older text, say an unprinted manuscript, I'm not usually obliged to give its original page numbers. I just need to identify the original source and signal each time I depart from its authority (for example, to correct an obvious error in spelling or printing).
The scholarly world has had many ways of ensuring synchronization between two texts; page numbers are one but not the only one. Of course they are helpful, but historically printers have sometimes ignored them. In the case of Greek and Latin texts, individual passages were identified by paragraph and sentence numbering, and that is still used among classicists today, as was observed above.
So, yes, I agree that page numbers are useful for synchronizing two versions of a text; in the case of verse, however, we go by line numbers and larger divisions or sections of the poem. So the physical page isn't always what matters.
My only intention in bringing up this matter was to point out that digitization of books in the future may not be as simple a matter as we would like and that there is no one solution that will fit some of these odd cases. Nor will past practice always be a reliable guide to what will work in the future. At some point electronic texts will be recognized as the accepted authority, and page numbers will no longer matter; for us, in a time of transition, they still do on occasion, depending on our relationship to what we're reading.
Let me say that as someone who guards, keeps track of, and preserves books from harm, I'm delighted to see such a vigorous discussion about how to address the problem and find solutions. We are in a time of tremendous change that will have at least as much impact on the distribution of information as resulted from the invention of moveable type, and groups like this one are at the forefront because they include not simply programmers and designers but regular readers and enthusiasts who understand the users' needs. More power and glory to them.
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