LaTeX Memoir class TOC with "page" preceding first and only first entry

Question

I'm using LaTeX and the memoir class to typeset a book. The book publisher (Cambridge) requests that the table of contents have chapter and headings on the left, page numbers on the right, with the very first entry containing the page number preceded by the word "page".

I tried:

\renewcommand*{\cftchapterformatpnum}[1]{\emph{page} \cftchapterpagefont #1}

and this allowed me to add "page", but it adds it to every entry. I tried:

\renewcommand*{\cftchapterformatpnum}[1] {\cftchapterpagefont #1}

elsewhere in my document to set it back, but there is obviously something I fundamentally don't understand about how LaTeX works. It seems that it only honors this command prior to:

\begin{document}

Can a LaTeX expert tell me the proper way to achieve the goal?

Answer 1

How about this (less any typos)?

\documentclass{memoir}
\newcommand*{\epage}{\emph{page }} % for convenience
\renewcommand*{\cftchapterformatpnum}[1]{\epage\cftchapterpagefont #1}
\begin{document}
\frontmatter
\tableofcontents* % don't add the ToC reference to the ToC
  %\addtocontents{toc}{\hfill \epage\par} % put page above page numbers
\mainmatter
\chapter{One}
\addtocontents{toc}%
  {\protect\renewcommand*{\protect\epage}{}% nullify printing page
}
\section{one}
\chapter{Two}
\section{one}
\end{document}

Well done for getting as far as you did. The trick is to add commands into the ToC at appropriate places using the \addtocontents{<file>}{<text>} macro; see section 9.1 General ToC Methods in the manual (> texdoc memoir).