quarto
(ˈkwɔːtəʊ)
Also written 4to, 4o.
[L. (in) quarto, (in) the fourth (of a sheet), abl. sing. of quartus fourth.]
1. The size of paper obtained by folding a whole sheet twice, so as to form four leaves, in which as a rule the height is not markedly in excess of the breadth. Orig. and chiefly in phr. in quarto.
Quarto-sizes range from 15 × 11 inches (imperial quarto) to 76/8 × 63/8 (pot quarto), according to the size of the original sheet.
| 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet B iij, All his works bound close, are at least sixe sheetes in quarto. 1633 Prynne Histrio-m. To Chr. Rdr., Some Play-books..are growne from Quarto into Folio. 1679 [see folio 5]. 1720 Lond. Gaz. No. 5851/4 Sets of his Homer in..large or small Paper, or Quarto Royal may be had. 1793 Boswell Johnson Pref. 2nd ed., These I have ordered to be printed separately in quarto. 1837–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. I. i. iii. §148. 250 The Psalter of 1457, and the Donatus of the same year, are in quarto. 1898 S. Lee Life Shaks. xix. (ed. 3) 299 In 1616 there had been printed in quarto seven editions of his ‘Venus and Adonis’. |
| attrib. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. i. 85 Small-quarto size, part print part manuscript. |
| fig. 1640 H. Glapthorne Wit in Constable ii. Wks. 1874 I. 195 The rest were made But fooles in Quarto, but I finde myselfe An asse in Folio. |
2. A book composed of paper in this form; a quarto-volume.
| 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xxv. 228 Those which they bought in Folio shrink quickly into Quarto's. 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 141 Quarto's, octavo's, shape the less'ning pyre. 1769 Junius Lett. xx. 90 The form and magnitude of a quarto imposes upon the mind. 1839 J. Yeowell Anc. Brit. Ch. Pref. (1847) 7 His writings..contain more matter than would be comprised in twenty modern quartos. 1898 S. Lee Life Shaks. xix. (ed. 3) 301 These sixteen quartos were publisher's ventures. |
| Comb. 1814 Coleridge Lett. (1895) II. 638 Of all scribblers these agricultural quarto-mongers are the vilest. |
3. attrib. or as adj. Of paper: Folded so as to form four leaves out of the original sheet; having the size or shape of a quarter-sheet. Of books: Printed on paper thus folded or having this form. Of works: Published in quarto.
| 1633 Prynne Histrio-m. To Chr. Rdr. 1 b, Farre better paper than most Octavo or Quarto Bibles. a 1658 Cleveland Wks. (1687) 248 Where others go before In..Quarto Pages. 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 131 These verses I have transcrib'd in a Qto. paper... He has also lent me a Quarto Vol. 1789 Dk. Leeds Polit. Mem. (1884) 137 It consisted of three sheets of Quarto Paper. 1807 Life Fielding in Tom Jones, Every thing..in the London quarto edition..is included in this new edition. 1821 Byron Juan iii. lxxxvi, He would write..a six canto quarto tale. |