# The Anatomy of a Book: Format in the Hand Press Period (1991)

"During the hand-press period, printers and publishers thought of their books in terms of the size and number of whole sheets of paper needed to produce them. An immediate concern in planning an edition was to establish its format , the way in which its sheets of paper would be folded into gatherings so that they could be sewn together and bound in an efficient and convenient manner. Authors, publishers, printers, and retail booksellers alike were conversant with the advantages and traditions associated with the various standard formats used during the hand-press period. A knowledge of and familiarity with these formats is thus an indispensable part of the scholarly equipment of students of book history – bibliographers, historians, textual editors, research librarians, antiquarian booksellers, book collectors, and others." Contents (with timestamp) 1 - Introduction (0:00) 2 - Format (3:27) 3 - Format vs Size (4:30) 4 - Hand-Made Paper (5:39) 5 - Chain Lines and Watermarks (6:42) 6 - Laid and Wove Paper (9:49) 7 - Imposition (10:46) 8 - Folio Format (11:30) 9 - Quarto Format (14:29) 10 - Octavo Format (17:38) 11 - Half-Sheet Imposition (19:23) 12 - Duodecimo (21:54) 13 - Smaller Formats (25:13) 14 - C19 Developments (26:37) 15 - Salmon's Polygraphice : Reprise (27:44) This video is labeled as "Part I," but it's not entirely clear whether another part exists. Transferred from the original VHS release to DVD in 2004.

- Kind: Educational
- Year: 1991
- Genres: Education, History
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/BookAnatomyFormat1991)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/BookAnatomyFormat1991?play=1)