Ed #12 Standards

Numbers have played a role in the graphic arts from the very beginning. In fact, the Gutenberg Bible, which appeared in 1454, is usually described as the 42-line Bible (B-42) because that is the number of lines found on most of its pages. The lines are laid out using a two-column grid and what became known as a Textura typeface, right justified, with the printed area measuring 292 mm x 198 mm.

The first standard paper sizes are even older than the Gutenberg Bible. A marble tablet inscribed with the outlines of four sizes of paper (no, they weren’t labeled short, tall, grande and venti) was placed in a public square in Bologna, Italy, in 1398, to serve as a guide for the paper manufactured in the region. Then and now, one of the key factors in establishing paper sizes is the number of times sheets can be folded to form the pages of a brochure or book. Books made from a once-folded sheet of paper are called folio editions, while quarto editions are bound from twice-folded signatures. The traditional English “Pot” size, which measures 12 3/4” x 15 1/2”, folds into a quarto size of 6 3/8” x 7 3/4”; large “Elephant” sheets, which measure 23” x 28”, fold into 11 1/2” x 14” quartos.

Today, most paper sold in the United States, Canada, and a few other countries is measured in inches. The basic sheet size, recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), is the ANSI E size, which measures 34” x 44”. Although no one knows for sure how this size came to be the standard, some say it stems from the size of the equipment that was used when paper was made by hand. Fiber and water slurry were passed through a screen at the bottom of a box that was 17” deep and 44” wide, which was as far as the papermaker could comfortably stretch his arms. The sheet of paper that was produced, folded in half in the long direction and then twice in the opposite direction resulted in a sheet of paper that measured 8.5” x 11”.

Larger ANSI sizes are based on printing a number of 8.5” x 11” sheets with a minimum of waste. The next largest size—the ANSI B sheet—also known as ledger or tabloid size, measures
11” x 17”, which is exactly twice as large as 8.5” x 11”. Other sheet sizes are also based on the 8.5” x 11” standard, but are slightly oversized to accommodate color bars, trimming, gripper edges, and other printing requirements. For example, a 23” x 35” sheet yields 16-8.5” x 11” pages when it is trimmed after printing.