Folios

The most useful way of binding papers is to fold them in half ~ a folio ~  and sew through the fold to gather the folio ~ or several folios ~ to a spine ~ codex binding. When several folios are collated and gathered together in such a way they are called a section ~ or signature.

We sell some papers in folded folio form for the convenience of the purchaser. When carriage depends on size then folding can reduce costs dramatically. For smaller sizes we sell unfolded sheets of cross grain paper ~ ready for customers to fold so that the grain runs parallel to the hinge.

There is a great danger of misunderstanding over sizes. We have notes to help with this ~ written especially to help those members of the public who write in the comments column "This was not the size I expected". If in doubt as to what you will be getting please write to clarify matters beforehand. The problem arises over confusion between the starting size of a sheet of paper and the finished size of the folio ~ in which one of the starting dimensions is halved. The finished format is also important ~ vertical (portrait) ~ horizontal (landscape) ~ or even square. In every case the hinge is considered to be on the left.

Proponents of the ISO"A" system of paper sizes are familiar with the labelling convenience of that system. An A4 sheet folds to make an A5 folio. It does get more complicated because the fold can be on a short edge ~ giving a horizontal format folio ~ or on a long edge ~ giving a vertical format folio.