No content found on page 2 of pagination with 1 post per page

Question

This loop (used on a taxonomy-term archive page) is not paginating correctly. The older/newer links for page 2 are there, but when I click on older, it returns "no content found" (when what I expected was to see the second post of this archive). Have I missed something?

    <?php
/**
 * Template for various archive pages (category, tag, term, date, etc.
 */
get_header();
?>

<div id="content" class="stories span8" role="main">

        <?php if ( have_posts() ) { ?>

        <?php

            // queue up the first post so we know what type of archive page we're dealing with
            the_post();

            /*
             * Display some different stuff in the header
             * depending on what type of archive page we're looking at
             */

            // if it's an author page, show the author box with their bio, social links, etc.

            if ( is_author() ) {
                get_template_part( 'largo-author-box' );

            // for categories, tags, and custom taxonomies we show the term name and description

            } elseif ( is_category() || is_tag() || is_tax() ) {
                if ( is_category() ) {
                    $title = single_cat_title( '', false );
                    $description = category_description();
                } elseif ( is_tag() ) {
                    $title = single_tag_title( '', false );
                    $description = tag_description();
                } elseif ( is_tax() ) {
                    $title = single_term_title( '', false );
                    $description = term_description();
                }
        ?>
            <header class="archive-background clearfix">
                <?php

                    if ( $title)
                        echo '<h1><img src="http://largoproject.staging.wpengine.com/wp-content/themes/maine/images/whoyakidding_logo.jpg" border=0></h1>';

                        // category pages show a list of related terms

                    if ( is_category() && largo_get_related_topics_for_category( get_queried_object() ) != '<ul></ul>' ) { ?>
                        <div class="related-topics">
                            <h5><?php _e('Related Topics:', 'largo'); ?> </h5>
                            <?php echo largo_get_related_topics_for_category( get_queried_object() ); ?>
                        </div> <!-- /.related-topics -->
                <?php
                    }
                ?>

        <?php

            // if it's a date archive we'll show the date dropdown in lieu of a description

            } elseif ( is_date() ) {
        ?>
                    <nav class="archive-dropdown">
                        <select name="archive-dropdown" onchange='document.location.href=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value;'><option value=""><?php _e('Select Month', 'largo'); ?></option>
                        <?php wp_get_archives( array('type' => 'monthly', 'format' => 'option' ) ); ?>
                        </select>
                    </nav>
        <?php } ?>
            </header>

            <h3 class="recent-posts clearfix">
                <?php

                    /*
                     * Show a label for the list of recent posts
                     * again, tailored to the type of page we're looking at
                     */
                    $posts_term = of_get_option( 'posts_term_plural', 'Stories' );

                    if ( is_author() ) {
                        if ( function_exists( 'get_coauthors' ) && $author = get_coauthors( $post->ID ) ) {
                            printf(__('Recent %1$s<a class="rss-link" href="/author/%2$s/feed/"><i class="icon-rss"></i></a>', 'largo'), $posts_term, $author[0]->user_login );
                        } else {
                            printf(__('Recent %1$s<a class="rss-link" href="%2$s"><i class="icon-rss"></i></a>', 'largo'), $posts_term, get_author_feed_link( get_the_author_meta('ID') ) );
                        }
                    } elseif ( is_category() ) {
                        printf(__('Recent %1$s<a class="rss-link" href="%2$s"><i class="icon-rss"></i></a>', 'largo'), $posts_term, get_category_feed_link( get_queried_object_id() ) );
                    } elseif ( is_tag() ) {
                        printf(__('Recent %1$s<a class="rss-link" href="%2$s"><i class="icon-rss"></i></a>', 'largo'), $posts_term, get_tag_feed_link( get_queried_object_id() ) );
                    } elseif ( is_tax() ) {
                        $queried_object = get_queried_object();
                        $term_id = intval( $queried_object->term_id );
                        $tax = $queried_object->taxonomy;
                        printf(__('Recent %1$s<a class="rss-link" href="%2$s"><i class="icon-rss"></i></a>', 'largo'), $posts_term, get_term_feed_link( $term_id, $tax ) );
                    } elseif ( is_month() ) {
                        printf(__('Monthly Archives: <span>%s</span>', 'largo'), get_the_date('F Y') );
                    } elseif ( is_year() ) {
                        printf(__('Yearly Archives: <span>%s</span>', 'largo'), get_the_date('Y') );
                    } else {
                        _e('Archives', 'largo');
                    }
                    ?>
            </h3>

    <?php
            // and finally wind the posts back so we can go through the loop as usual

            rewind_posts();
query_posts('posts_per_page=1'); 
            while ( have_posts() ) : the_post();
                get_template_part( 'content', 'singleseries' );
            endwhile;

                    largo_content_nav( 'nav-below' );
        } else {
            get_template_part( 'content', 'not-found' );
        }       
    ?>

</div><!--#content-->

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>

Answer 1

I don't know what largo_content_nav() does but you clobber the main query here:

query_posts('posts_per_page=1'); 

And then several lines later attempt to paginate (or so the function name and argument suggest):

largo_content_nav( 'nav-below' );

If largo_content_nav uses the global variable $wp_query which I kind think it must since you don't pass it a WP_Query object, then you are paginating based on an object that is different from the one used to load the page. That is:

1. Long before the theme templates load, WordPress creates the $wp_query global based on various query parameters and rewrite rules.
2. The page loads according to information in that query
3. You, by using query_posts which you should never do, then overwrite $wp_query
4. And attempt to paginate. Unfortunately you've altered the query at step #3. Things are out of sync.

I don't honestly understand (or I am not sure that I understand) what you are trying to accomplish with this block of code, but your comment below ...

All I needed to do was show 1 full post per page on the archives for this taxonomy term.

... makes me think that all you want to do is limit your archives to a single result per page. You have two loops on the page, but it seems that you only want one and have cooked up something odd and wildly complicated. I think what you need is:

function single_per_page_archive_wpse_133857($qry) {
  if ($qry->is_main_query() && $qry->is_archive()) {
    $qry->set('posts_per_page',1);
  }
}
add_action('pre_get_posts','single_per_page_archive_wpse_133857');

And remove most of this:

            // and finally wind the posts back so we can go through the loop as usual

            rewind_posts();
query_posts('posts_per_page=1'); 
            while ( have_posts() ) : the_post();
                get_template_part( 'content', 'singleseries' );
            endwhile;

Keeping just this (I think):

get_template_part( 'content', 'singleseries' );