Entertainment / Literature / Octavo: Not to be confused with octave, above, octavo is a term from the early production of paper and vellum in the medieval period. When a single, large uncut sheet is folded once and attached to create two leaves, or four pages, and then bound together, the resulting text is called a folio. If the folio is in turn folded in half once more and cut, the resulting size of page is called a quarto. If the quarto is in turn folded in half and cut once more, the result is an octavo. Thus, an octavo is a book made of sheets of material folded three times, to create eight leaves, or sixteen pages, each about 4 inches wide and 5 inches high, to make a tiny book. On a single sheet, the page visible on the right-hand side of an open book or the 'top' side of such a page is called the recto side (Latin for 'right'), and the reverse or 'bottom' side of such a page (the page visible on the left-hand side of an open book) is called the verso side. Only one of Shakespeare's Renaissance plays, Richard Duke of York (better known as Henry VI, Part 3) was published in octavo format, but many medieval psalters and books of hours appear in octavo manuscripts. Compare octavo with folio and quarto (below).
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Entertainment / Literature / Folio: A term from the early production of paper and vellum in the medieval period. When a single large sheet is folded once and sewn to create two leaves, or four pages, and then bound together, the resulti MORE