UK TeX FAQ -- question 131

### Really blank pages between chapters

Book (by default) and report (with `openright` class option) ensure that each chapter starts on a right-hand (recto) page; they do this by inserting a `\cleardoublepage` command between chapters (rather than a mere `\clearpage`). The empty page thus created gets to have a normal running header, which some people don't like.

The (excellent) fancyhdr manual covers this issue, basically advising the creation of a command `\clearemptydoublepage`:

    \let\origdoublepage\cleardoublepage
    \newcommand{\clearemptydoublepage}{%
      \clearpage
      {\pagestyle{empty}\origdoublepage}%
    }

The "obvious" thing is then to use this command to replace `\cleardoublepage` in a patched version of the `chapter` command. (Make a package of your own containing a copy of the command out of the class.) This isn't particularly difficult, but you can instead simply subvert `\cleardoublepage` (which isn't often used elsewhere):

    \let\cleardoublepage\clearemptydoublepage

Note: this command works because `\clearemptydoublepage` uses a copy of `\cleardoublepage`: see patching techniques for explanation.

Note that the KOMA-Script replacement for the book class (scrbook) offers class options that control the appearance of these empty pages, and Peter Wilson's memoir class has similar facilities.

`memoir.cls`
  macros/latex/contrib/supported/memoir.tar.gz
`scrbook.cls`
  Part of macros/latex/contrib/supported/koma-script.tar.gz