OT: where lines align

\disclaimer{this is not mac specific, but i hope that all you helpful 
knowledgeable people on this list will be sympathetic with my quest for 
a nice looking page layout and not mind the question.}

there are those _nice looking_ books where lines align across pages -- 
maybe not each single one, but the majority of them. so two pages would 
typically look like the ones below, and if you hold the page against a 
lit background you see the lines on front and back be on the same 
height.

+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|    the last section         |         the next section    |
|                             |                             |
|    yadda yadda yadda yadda  |  more words on this page    |
|    other things to be said  |                             |
|    text continues here too  |  BIGGER FONT HERE           |
|    more yadda yadda around  |                             |
|    this is additional text  |  we're mysteriously back    |
|    which is saying nothing  |  on the same line height    |
|    yadda yadda yadda yadda  |  as on the opposite page    |
|                             |  etc.                       |
|                             |                             |
|                             |                             |
|             - 2 -           |           - 3 -             |
|                             |                             |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

being no typesetter, i don't know what the appropriate typographic 
terminology is, but it always seems to me like a one dimensional 
version of grid systems (as in josef müller-brockmann).

turns out that it is surprisingly difficult to google for something 
like "can i do this thing in latex?" when you don't know the name of 
"this thing".

so my hope:
people here will know the answer, or knows where i should (have) 
look(ed) - please share your knowledge.
thanks much in advance,
jan

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