Removing the header within reledmac/reledpar using \thispagestyle{empty}

Question

I am trying unsuccessfully to use \thispagestyle{empty} for removing the header from the first page of a section within \Pages in reledmac/reledpar.

MWE:

\documentclass{book}

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
    \pagestyle{fancy}
    \fancyhead[COE]{A heading}
    \fancyhead[LE,RO]{\thepage}

\usepackage[series={},nocritical,noend,noeledsec,nofamiliar,noledgroup]{reledmac}
\usepackage{reledpar}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\begin{pages}\begin{Leftside}
    \beginnumbering
        \pstart
            \section*{First title}
            \thispagestyle{empty}
        \pend
        \pstart\lipsum[1-7]\pend
    \endnumbering
\end{Leftside}

\begin{Rightside}
    \beginnumbering
        \pstart
            \section*{Other title}
            \thispagestyle{empty}
        \pend
        \pstart\lipsum[11-17]\pend
    \endnumbering
\end{Rightside}\end{pages}
\Pages

\end{document}

I've tried placing the command at different places, even on the second page, to see what happens, but no headers were removed.

Removing it globally for sections is not the option because in the remaining part of the document I have to keep full headers at the first pages of the sections.

Answer 1

General principle

As explained both in the reledmac handbook and in the example files provided with reledmac, you must NOT add \section directly in a \pstart, because it can create confusion with line splitting.

You can use either:

• \eledsection if you want the section title being in line numbering
• optional argument of \pstart if you does not want.

In any case, you must add your \thispagestyle inside the optional argument of \pstart. Why? because of the way reledpar work.

1. First it read both side, make line breaking, and so one, but does not typeset the texts, just stores them in box.
2. After that, it typeset the texts, changing at each pages in order to have parallel typsetting (Left/Right/Left/Right etc.)

The problem is that the \thispagestyle included in the \pstart...\pend structure is executed at step 1. However, any content present in the optional argument of \pstart will be executed when really typesetting the texts in parallel pages.

Example 1: with \eledsection

\documentclass{book}

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
    \pagestyle{fancy}
    \fancyhead[COE]{A heading}
    \fancyhead[LE,RO]{\thepage}

\usepackage[series={},nocritical,noend,nofamiliar,noledgroup]{reledmac}
\usepackage{reledpar}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\begin{pages}\begin{Leftside}
    \beginnumbering
        
        \pstart
          \eledsection*{First title}
        \pend
        \pstart[\thispagestyle{empty}]
          \lipsum[1-7]
        \pend
    \endnumbering
\end{Leftside}

\begin{Rightside}
    \beginnumbering
        \pstart
          \eledsection*{Other title}
        \pend
        \pstart[\thispagestyle{empty}]
          \lipsum[11-17]
        \pend
    \endnumbering
\end{Rightside}\end{pages}
\Pages

\end{document}

Example 2: with \section in optional argument.

\documentclass{book}

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
    \pagestyle{fancy}
    \fancyhead[COE]{A heading}
    \fancyhead[LE,RO]{\thepage}

\usepackage[series={},nocritical,noend,noeledsec,nofamiliar,noledgroup]{reledmac}
\usepackage{reledpar}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\begin{pages}\begin{Leftside}
    \beginnumbering
        
        \pstart[
            \section*{First title}
            \thispagestyle{empty}
          ]
        \lipsum[1-7]\pend
    \endnumbering
\end{Leftside}

\begin{Rightside}
    \beginnumbering
        \pstart[
            \section*{Other title}
            \thispagestyle{empty}
          ]
        \lipsum[11-17]
        \pend
    \endnumbering
\end{Rightside}\end{pages}
\Pages

\end{document}