Robert -
without specifically knowing.....
I would believe the fronts were printed first most often.... but not necessarily all of the time.
If a press is running and the pressman has backed up all of the 'printed front' sheets it has on hand.... I could easily see the shop putting in virgin stock and continuing the run by printing additional backs. If there is a reasonable expectation that additional cards will be printed - in this instance, it wouldn't make sense to change the press setup to put on fronts. They would just keep running backs.
Its also possible that the printer looked to keep a 'backs' inventory (sheets printed with just the backs) - to help if they needed to get out a batch of cards quickly.
Printing the fronts first makes the most sense to me, and I would guess it was done most often - but I wouldn't be surprised (especially considering this must have been a huge print project) - if, from time to time the backs were printed first.
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Joe D.
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