No they didnt drop during beta I hunted out there for a while and did some quest out in Zoram and they never drop them.Its gotta be new I have found many pages I got 1-4 and bound them together I also have pages 5-7 need 8 to make chapter 2.
ya ive actually completed the 3 books...if u look up the quests by zone there will be a quest titled lost pages or something like that...and it is about these items...i havent followed through with any of it yet...so the exact details about the quest are a mystery to me...but if it is for a quest...should we be able to get these off of drops without the quest? just my 2 cp :P
During beta, my NE Hunter got a few pages off of the Murlocs in the nearby camp. I never knew what they were for and just held on to them. Now that I am playing Horde in release, I don't know if there is an Alliance quest involving them or not.
Just wanted to share my experience with the pages in hopes that it will help to figure things out.