Quarto
Quarto (abbreviated 4to or 4°) is a book or pamphlet format produced from a full sheet of paper printed with eight pages of text (four per side), then folded twice at right angles to form four leaves or eight pages.[1] The resulting volume is typically rectangular or squarish, with historical sizes varying by paper stock but generally around 9.5 by 12 inches (241 by 305 mm) in modern equivalents, though early modern quartos were often smaller, under 9 inches (230 mm) tall.[2] [3] The quarto format emerged in the 15th century with the advent of movable-type printing and became prominent in the early modern period (16th–18th centuries) for affordable literary publications, including plays, poems, and pamphlets. It offered a practical middle ground between the larger, more expensive folio and the smaller octavo, enabling wider distribution of works like many of William Shakespeare's plays, which were first published in quarto editions.[4] [5] "Quarto" may also refer to the open-source scientific publishing system developed by Posit.[6]Definition and History
Origins in Early Printing
A quarto is a book or pamphlet produced by printing eight pages on a single sheet of paper—four on each side—and folding it twice to form four leaves or eight pages in total.[7] This format resulted in a compact volume, smaller than a folio but larger than later developments like the octavo, and was particularly suited for practical and portable texts.[7] The quarto format originated in 15th-century Europe amid the rapid adoption of movable-type printing, with the earliest examples emerging from workshops in Mainz, Germany, shortly after Johannes Gutenberg's innovations around 1450.[8] Printers like Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, who took over Gutenberg's operations after a financial dispute in 1455, advanced the technology and produced some of the first dated printed works, contributing to the standardization of formats including quartos by the late 1450s and into the 1460s.[9] One of the earliest surviving quartos is the Sibyllenbuch, a prophetic poem printed around 1452–1453, likely in Gutenberg's shop, marking the format's debut in European book production.[8] This emergence coincided with the broader shift from labor-intensive manuscript copying to mechanical printing via Gutenberg's press, which dramatically increased output and reduced costs.[8] Quartos facilitated the creation of affordable, portable texts for scholars, clergy, and the emerging reading public, contrasting with the grander, costlier folios reserved for liturgical or luxury volumes.[7] By enabling mass production of smaller, cheaper books, the format played a pivotal role in democratizing access to knowledge during the incunabula period (1450–1500), when over 30,000 editions were printed across Europe.[7]Development Through the Centuries
The quarto format rose to prominence in the 16th century amid the Renaissance, fueled by humanism's emphasis on classical learning and the consequent surge in literacy across Europe, which spurred demand for affordable publications of plays, pamphlets, and poetry.[10] This period marked a shift toward smaller, more portable books that suited the growing market for vernacular literature and scholarly texts, with printers adapting the format to meet the needs of an expanding readership. In the 17th century, quarto production reached its zenith in England, paralleling the expansion of commercial printing houses and the vibrant theater scene under the Stuart monarchy. Over 500 play quartos were published in London between 1580 and 1640, reflecting the format's suitability for quick, low-volume dissemination of dramatic works to theatergoers and collectors. Economic advantages played a key role, as quartos required less paper and labor for short print runs compared to larger folios, with individual play quartos typically costing around six pence unbound—roughly 3% of the price of a folio edition at 15 shillings.[11] The 18th and 19th centuries witnessed a marked decline in quarto usage, as mechanized printing technologies and the Industrial Revolution prioritized smaller octavo formats for mass production. Steam-powered presses, introduced in the early 1800s by inventors like Friedrich Koenig, favored compact sheets that were easier to handle and feed continuously, rendering the larger quarto less efficient for high-volume output.[1] By the mid-19th century, octavos dominated due to their lower material costs and portability in an era of widespread rail distribution and cheaper pulp paper.[12] A revival occurred in the 20th century through the fine press movement, where limited-edition quartos evoked medieval craftsmanship amid reactions against industrialized printing. The Kelmscott Press, founded by William Morris in 1891, exemplified this trend by producing ornate quarto volumes, such as large-format editions printed on handmade paper with custom typefaces, limited to around 300 copies each to emphasize aesthetic quality over mass appeal.[13]Production Process
Sheet Folding and Imposition
The production of a quarto begins with a single large sheet of paper printed on both sides in a specific arrangement known as imposition, which ensures the pages fall into the correct sequential order after folding. Imposition requires printing non-sequential pages on the sheet: for an eight-page signature, the outer forme typically features page 8 on the outer left, page 1 on the outer right, page 4 on the inner left, and page 5 on the inner right, while the inner forme has page 2 on the outer left, page 7 on the outer right, page 3 on the inner left, and page 6 on the inner right.[14][15] This layout accounts for the subsequent folds, allowing the text to read consecutively when the sheet is assembled. Once printed, the sheet undergoes a step-by-step folding process to create four leaves and eight pages. The compositor or printer first folds the sheet in half vertically along the longer dimension to form a folio, aligning the printed sides correctly; this positions the outer and inner formes appropriately relative to each other. Next, the folio is folded in half horizontally to produce the quarto format, resulting in four nested leaves that can be gathered into a signature.[14] In a textual representation of such a signature, the unfolded outer forme might appear as:- Left half: page 8 (outer) above page 4 (inner)
- Right half: page 5 (inner) above page 1 (outer)