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Book size

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Comparison of some book sizes based onAmerican Library Association.[1]

The size of abookis generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover.[2]A series of terms is commonly used bylibrariesandpublishersfor the general sizes of modern books, ranging fromfolio(the largest), toquarto(smaller) andoctavo(still smaller). Historically, these terms referred to the format of the book, a technical term used by printers andbibliographersto indicate the size of a leaf in terms of the size of the original sheet. For example, a quarto (from Latinquartō,ablative form ofquartus,fourth[3]) historically was a book printed on sheets of paper folded in half twice, with the first fold at right angles to the second, to produce 4 leaves (or 8 pages), each leaf one fourth the size of the original sheet printed – note that aleafrefers to the single piece of paper, whereas apageis one side of a leaf. Because the actual format of many modern books cannot be determined from examination of the books, bibliographers may not use these terms in scholarly descriptions.

Book formats[edit]

In thehand pressperiod (up to about 1820) books were manufactured by printing text on both sides of a full sheet of paper and then folding the paper one or more times into a group of leaves orgathering.The binder would sew the gatherings (sometimes also calledsignatures) through their inner hinges and attached to cords in the spine to form the book block. Before the covers were bound to the book, the block of text pages was sometimes trimmed along the three unbound edges to open the folds of the paper and to produce smooth edges for the book. When the leaves were not trimmed, the reader would have to cut open the leaf edges using a knife.

Traditional book sizes/formats used in English-speaking countries. Based on the 19-by-24-inch or 482.5-by-609.5-millimetre printing paper size, which equals two folio leaves, four quarto leaves, eight octavo leaves, etc. For comparison,common American lettersize is shown in green.

Books made by printing two pages of text on each side of a sheet of paper, which is then folded once to form two leaves or four pages, are referred to asfolios(from Latin,foliō,ablative offolium,leaf[3]). Those made by printing four text pages on each side of a sheet of paper and folding the paper twice to form a gathering containing four leaves or eight pages are calledquartos(fourths). Similarly, books made by printing eight pages of text on each side of a sheet, which was then folded three times to form gatherings of eight leaves or sixteen pages each, are calledoctavos.The size of the resulting pages in these cases depends, of course, on the size of the full sheet used to print them and how much the leaves were trimmed before binding, but where the same size paper is used, folios are the largest, followed by quartos and then octavos.[4]: 80–81 The proportion of leaves of quartos tends to be squarer than that of folios or octavos.[5]: 164 

These various production methods are referred to as the format of the book. These terms are often abbreviated, using 4to for quarto, 8vo for octavo, and so on. The octavo format, with eight leaves per gathering, has half the page size of the quarto format before trimming. Smaller formats include theduodecimo(12mo ortwelvemo), with twelve leaves per sheet and pages one-third the size of the quarto format, and thesextodecimo(16mo orsixteenmo), with sixteen leaves per sheet, half the size of the octavo format and one quarter the size of the quarto. The vast majority of books were printed in the folio, quarto, octavo or duodecimo formats.[4]: 82 

There are many variations in how such books were produced. For example, folios were rarely made by simply binding up a group of two leaf gatherings; instead several printed leaf pairs would be inserted within another, to produce a larger gathering of multiple leaves that would be more convenient for binding.[5]: 30–31 For example, three two-leaf printed sheets might be inserted in a fourth, producing gatherings of eight leaves or sixteen pages each. Bibliographers still refer to such books as folios (and not octavos) because the original full sheets were folded once to produce two leaves, and describe such gatherings asfolios in 8s.Similarly, a book printed as an octavo, but bound with gatherings of four leaves each, is called anoctavo in 4s.[5]: 28 

In determining the format of a book, bibliographers will study the number of leaves in a gathering, their proportion and sizes and also the arrangement of thechain linesandwatermarksin the paper.[4]: 84–107 

In order for the pages to come out in the correct order, the printers would have to properly lay out the pages oftypein the printing press. For example, to print two leaves in folio containing pages 1 through 4, the printer would print pages 1 and 4 on one side of the sheet and, after that has dried, print pages 2 and 3 on the other side. If a printer was printing a folio in 8s, as described above, he would have to print pages 1 and 16 on one side of a leaf with pages 2 and 15 on the other side of that leaf, etc. The arrangement of the pages of type in the press is referred to as theimpositionand there are a number of methods of imposing pages for the various formats, some of which involve cutting the printed pages before binding.[4]: 80–110 

SeeFurther readingfor more on imposition schemes.

Modern book production[edit]

As printing and paper technology developed, it became possible to produce and to print on much larger sheets or rolls of paper and it may not be apparent (or even possible to determine) from examination of a modern book how the paper was folded to produce them. For example, a modern novel may consist of gatherings of sixteen leaves, but may actually have been printed with sixty-four pages on each side of a very large sheet of paper.[6]: 429 Similarly, the actual printing format cannot be determined for books that areperfect bound,where every leaf in the book is completely cut out (i.e., not conjugate to another leaf as in gatherings) and is glued into thespine.Modern books are commonly calledfolio,quartoandoctavobased simply on their size rather than the format in which they were actually produced, if that can even be determined. Scholarly bibliographers may describe such books based on the number of leaves in each gathering (eight leaves per gathering forming an octavo), even where the actual number of pages printed on the original sheet is unknown[4]: 80–81 or may reject the use of these terms for modern books entirely.[note 1]

Today, octavo and quarto are the most common book sizes, but many books are produced in larger and smaller sizes as well. Other terms for book size have developed, anelephant foliobeing up to 580 mm (23 in) tall, anatlas folio640 mm (25 in), and adouble elephant folio1,300 mm (50 in) tall.

Paper sizes[edit]

Main article:Paper size

During the hand press period, full sheets of printing paper were manufactured in a great variety of sizes which were given a number of names, such aspot,demy,foolscap,crown,etc.[7][8]These were not standardized and the actual sizes varied across countries and times.[4]: 67–70, 73–75 

The size and proportions of a book depend on the size of the original full sheet. If a sheet 480 by 640 mm (19 by 25 in) is used to print a quarto, the resulting untrimmed pages, will be approximately half as large in each dimension: width240 mm (9+1⁄2in) and height320 mm (12+1⁄2in). An octavo page, oriented a quarter turn from the full sheet, would have height240 mm (9+1⁄2in)—1⁄2in × 19—and width160 mm (6+1⁄4in)—1⁄4in × 25.The sizes of books of the same format will differ in proportion to the full sheets used to print them. For example, a typical octavo printed in Italy or France in the16th centuryis roughly the size of a modernmass market paperbackbook, but an English18th-centuryoctavo is noticeably larger, more like a moderntrade paperbackor hardcover novel[citation needed].

Common formats and sizes[edit]

United States[edit]

The following table is adapted from the scale of theAmerican Library Association,[1][9] which uses a basis sheet of 19-by-25-inch (483 by 635 mm)[10]which is, confusingly if not explained by the source, half the text/book stocksheetof 25-by-38-inch (635 by 965 mm), and in whichsizerefers to the dimensions of the cover (trimmed pages will be somewhat smaller, often by about1⁄4inchor5 mm[2]). Thewords before octavosignify the traditional names for unfolded paper sheet sizes. Other dimensions may exist as well.[8][11]US Tradesize corresponds with octavo and is popular for hardbacks.Mass market paperbackcorresponds with duodecimo.

US book formats and corresponding sizes
Name Abbreviations Leaves Pages Approximate cover size (width × height)
inch × inch mm × mm
folio 2ºorfo 2 4 12 × 19 305 × 483
quarto 4ºor4to 4 8 9+1⁄2× 12 241 × 305
Imperialoctavo 8ºor8vo 8 16 8+1⁄4×11+1⁄2 210 × 292
Superoctavo 7 × 11 178 × 279
Royaloctavo 6+1⁄4× 10 159 × 254
Mediumoctavo 6+1⁄2×9+1⁄4 165 × 235
octavo 6 × 9 152 × 229
Crownoctavo 5+3⁄8× 8 137 × 203
duodecimoortwelvemo 12ºor12mo 12 24 5 ×7+3⁄8 127 × 187
sextodecimoorsixteenmo 16ºor16mo 16 32 4 ×6+3⁄4 102 × 171
octodecimooreighteenmo 18ºor18mo 18 36 4 ×6+1⁄2 102 × 165
trigesimo-secundoorthirty-twomo 32ºor32mo 32 64 3+1⁄2×5+1⁄2 89 × 140
quadragesimo-octavoorforty-eightmo 48ºor48mo 48 96 2+1⁄2× 4 63.5 × 102
sexagesimo-quartoorsixty-fourmo 64ºor64mo 64 128 2 × 3 51 × 76

United Kingdom[edit]

A common paperback size in the UK isB-format,which is used, for example, byPenguin Classics.This contrasts with A-format, which is slightly narrower than ISO B6, and C-format.[12]

British paperback sizes
Format mm × mm inch × inch Aspect ratio
A 110 × 178 4+3⁄8× 7 ϕ∶1
B 129 × 198 5+1⁄8×7+3⁄4 1.53
C 135 × 216 5+3⁄8×8+1⁄2 8∶5

Formerly the descriptions octavo, quarto, duodecimo, etc. were used (see table under United States above).

Japan[edit]

In book construction, Japan uses a mixture ofISO A-series,JIS B-series,and several traditional Japanese paper sizes. A- and B-series signatures are folded from a sheet slightly larger than ISO A1 and JIS B1, respectively, then trimmed to size. The most commonly encountered sizes are listed below.

Japanese book formats and corresponding sizes
Name Translation Leaves Pages Approximate cover size (width × height) Notes
mm × mm inch × inch
B4 phán JIS B4 8 16 257 × 364 10+1⁄8×14+1⁄3 Folded from B-series standard sheets(B liệt bổn phiên)measuring 765 mm × 1,085 mm (30.1 in × 42.7 in)
A4 phán ISO A4 8 16 210 × 297 8+1⁄4×11+17⁄24 Folded from A-series standard sheets(A liệt bổn phiên)measuring 625 mm × 880 mm (24.6 in × 34.6 in)
AB phán AB 16 32 210 × 257 8+1⁄4×10+1⁄8 Has the width of ISO A4 and height of JIS B5
B5 phán JIS B5 16 32 182 × 257 7+1⁄6×10+1⁄8
Cúc phán Kiku( "Chrysanthemum" ) 16 32 150 × 220 5+11⁄12×8+2⁄3 Folded from sheets (also called "kiku") of 636 mm × 939 mm (25.0 in × 37.0 in)
A5 phán ISO A5 16 32 148 × 210 5+5⁄6×8+1⁄4
Trọng tương phán Jūbako( "Tiered Box" ) 20 40 182 × 206 7+1⁄6×8+1⁄8 Name refers to squarish shape;
folded from B-series standard sheets, yielding 8 more pages than JIS B5.
Tứ lục phán Shi-Roku( "4 × 6" ) 32 64 127 × 188 5 ×7+5⁄12 Name refers to approximate dimensions insun;
folded from sheets of 788 mm × 1,091 mm (31.0 in × 43.0 in)
B6 phán JIS B6 32 64 128 × 182 5+1⁄24×7+1⁄6
Tân thư phán/B40 phán "Shinsho"(" New Book ") /" B40 " 40 80 103 × 182 4+1⁄24×7+1⁄6 Half the size ofJūbako.Folded from B-series standard sheets, yielding 16 more pages than JIS B6.
An informal,de factostandard, with some variation in finished sizes between publishers.
Tiểu B6 phán "Small JIS B6" 32 64 112 × 174 4+5⁄12×6+5⁄6 Some publishers' "Shinsho"dimensions are closer to this size.
A6 phán ISO A6 32 64 105 × 148 4+1⁄8×5+5⁄6 Size used forBunkobon(small-format paperbacks)
Tam ngũ phán San-Go( "3 × 5" ) 40 80 84 × 148 3+7⁄24×5+5⁄6 Name refers to approximate dimensions insun;
folded from A-series standard sheets, yielding 16 more pages than A6.

Records[edit]

Largest book[edit]

An extremely large book rests on a table, with its front cover and a small portion of its pages flipped open to the left. A man facing away from the camera stands in front of the flipped part. On the wall above the book is a sign saying "LARGEST BOOK IN THE WORLD - VISITORS' REGISTER FOR CALIFORNIA BUILDING - Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition […]". On a table in the background and to the right of the large book is another table on which many small stacks of normal-sized books are visible.
The supposed largest book in the world, as of 1909. It was the visitors' register for the California Building at theAlaska–Yukon–Pacific ExpositioninSeattle.Some normal-sized books are on the table at right.

According to the 2003Guinness World Records,the largest book in the world wasBhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan KingdombyMichael Hawley.Its size is 1.5 m × 2.1 m (5 ft × 7 ft).[13]

According to the 2007 Guinness World Records, the largest published book in the world wasThe Little Princeprinted in Brazil in 2007. Its size is 2.01 m × 3.08 m (6 ft 7 in × 10 ft 1 in).[14]

According to the 2012 Guinness World Records, the largest book in the world wasThis the Prophet Mohamedmade inDubai,UAE. Its size is 5 m × 8.06 m (16.4 ft × 26.4 ft).[15]Though larger thanThe Little Prince,the two hold separate records, asThis the Prophet Mohamedwas not published.

Smallest book[edit]

The smallest book isTeeny Ted from Turnip Townmeasured 0.07 mm × 0.10 mm (0.0028 in × 0.0039 in).[16]

Largest manuscript[edit]

The largest surviving medieval manuscript is theCodex Gigasor 'Devil's Manuscript', with dimensions of 920 mm × 500 mm (36 in × 20 in).

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Cf.Bowers,[6]: 429–430 suggesting that a book with eight leaves per gathering where the format cannot be determined should be referred to asin 8sand notoctavo.

References[edit]

  1. ^abThompson, Elizabeth Hardy, ed. (1943).ALA Glossary of Library Terms, with a selection of terms in related fields.American Library Association. p.151.ISBN9780838900000.
  2. ^abRoberts, Matt; Etherington, Don (1982)."Book sizes".Bookbinding and the conservation of books: a dictionary of descriptive terminology.Library of Congress.ISBN9780844403663.
  3. ^abOxford English Dictionary(2nd ed.).Oxford University Press.1989.
  4. ^abcdefGaskell, Philip(1972).A New Introduction to Bibliography(1st ed.). Clarendon Press.
  5. ^abcMcKerrow, Ronald Brunlees(1927). McKitterick, David (ed.).An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students.Clarendon Press.
  6. ^abBowers, Fredson (1949).Principles of Bibliographical Description(1st ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  7. ^Ringwalt, John Luther, ed. (1871)."Dimensions of Paper".American Encyclopaedia of Printing.Philadelphia: Menamin & Ringwalt. pp. 139–140.
  8. ^abSavage, William (1841)."Paper".A Dictionary of the Art of Printing.New York: Burt Franklin. pp. 560–566.
  9. ^"PapersDB (Papers Database)".papersdb.com.
  10. ^Levine-Clark, Michael; Carter, Toni M., eds. (2013).ALA glossary of library and information science(4th ed.). Chicago, Ill.: American Library Association. p. 38.ISBN9780838911112.
  11. ^Ambrose, Gavin; Harris, Paul (2015).The Layout Book(2nd ed.). Bloomsbury. pp. 76–77.ISBN9781474239318.
  12. ^Wilson-Fletcher, Honor (11 August 2001)."The importance of format and feel".The Guardian.Retrieved6 April2019.
  13. ^"Guinness: Scientist creates world's largest book".CNN.Associated Press. 2003-12-16. Archived fromthe originalon 2007-05-22.Retrieved2007-06-07.
  14. ^"Largest book published".Guinness World Records.
  15. ^"Largest book".Guinness World Records.
  16. ^"Smallest reproduction of a printed book".Guinness World Records.

Further reading[edit]

A number of imposition schemes for different formats may be found in:

Additional tables and discussion of American book formats and sizes may be found in:

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