Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1891-03-20
SIZES OF BOOKS.


Terms by Which the vaSiOus Forms Are
Designated.
The words folio, quarto, octave, duo
decimo and the like, have almost. if
nut quite, lost. their original meaning.
at first they had. reference only to the
inlmber of Leaves into which the sheets
irssll in making the books were folded.
| Thus. if these sheets were folded once.
SD as to form two leaves or four pages,
the book was called Il folio; if the
Esheets VIE folded twice, so as to form
-four leSecs, the book was called a quar-
to: If they a,vere folded four times, so
fas to. form fcight leaves. the book was
called an octave, and so on.
| The duodccinO. or 12mO. is an irregU-
lar size. To make it the sheet must be
folded so as 10 form twelve leaves-not
an easy thing to do off-hand, as tie
reader will find if he tries it. The pro-
cess is, nevertheless, simple when it
h:s been learned. Fold One-thirrl of the
width Of a Sheet lengthwise upon itself;
next fold the paper across its breadth
in the center. Next fold the sheet
| across its Iength,-that is, fold the two
leaves upon the four. Finally, fold it
again across, and you have your sheet
in duodecimo form. and, what is more,
in such shape that it may easily be
sewcd in with others to form a book.
| But though, strictly and historically,
quartO, OctavO,. etc, have reference
/ solely to the manner of folding the
sheet. they are. as 4 matter of common
practice, used to specify the sizes of
books ~ y 80
| If the sheets on which books are
printed were of uniform size, quartO-
page would be as unvarying an area as
IA square foot or an acre; and before the
invention of machines for making
paper. there was such uniformity in the
sizes of sheets.
| The paper molds in which the sheets
| We're made had fixed, conventional sizes.
But when paper-making machines
Were introduced, and the use of molds
was abandopeA sheets came to be made
f7of alt imensipns# As > result, quartos
/ and dssf19os lid ~, sorts of dimensions,
and the ferms, ayhen used strictly to in
dicate how tAesaies was folded. be-
GANG wdr4hlessss zesignations of size.
Theuse of tho OF terms was never
thaacss MOI ahand0aed; but, instead,
! they were first used to indicate a rather
! wide range of sizes, and finally were
| attached to certain more definite sizes,
| without reference to the method of
folding.
I#1hd pfsesaics1f the publisher nova
dagAk Axst ID determinc what size of
mg@ 3ints The sheet he uses will
be1ME q small, according to the ca
psl5ly saf The rresp at his disposal. On
tlidE ksa he may print, say, eight oc-
tayoi .geS. orahe may print thirty-two;
but he will call the book an octave,
though by its folding it should he called
| either a quarto or Il l6mO.
In other words, the publisher calls
his book by the name of that one of the
old sizes to which it happens to come
nearest. a.. ft,l,iI .,.
The confusion which resulted from
the changes noticed here has not passed
, away yet: but efforts have been made
to give dcfinitcness of meaning to the
the old words. The American Library
Association has agreed upon set of
definitions based upon the lengths-oI
heights-of books. which are gaining
favor, and are likely to become author
| itativc in Amcrica.-Youth's Compan-
ion,