A blank leaf at the beginning or end of a book, typically attached to the inside of the cover.
From English 'end' plus 'leaf' (Old English 'leáf'). In bookbinding, these papers serve protective and decorative functions at the termination points of the text block.
The humble endleaf became an artist's canvas—decorative endleaves with marbled patterns or artistic designs signaled that a book was expensive and valuable, making them the 'dust jacket' of the pre-modern world.
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