Folio facts for kids

A page from Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, showing a folio used on both sides.

When we talk about books, especially old ones made by hand (called manuscripts) or early printed books, a folio means a single sheet of paper or parchment. This sheet is used on both sides. One side is called the recto, and the other side is called the verso. Think of it like a single piece of paper in a notebook that you write on the front and back.

What is a Folio?

A folio is more than just a piece of paper; it's a fundamental unit in how books were made for centuries. Before printing presses, monks and scribes carefully wrote on these folios. Later, when printing began, printers used folios to create books.

Recto and Verso: The Two Sides

Every folio has two distinct sides:

• Recto: This is the front side of the folio. If you imagine a book, the recto is usually the right-hand page when you open it.
• Verso: This is the back side of the folio. It's the left-hand page when you open a book.

These terms help people describe exactly where text or images are located within a manuscript or an old printed book. For example, you might see a reference like "folio 10, recto" (often shortened to "fol. 10r") to point to a specific page.

How Folios Became Books

To make a book, many folios are folded and then gathered together. The way they are folded gives us different book sizes:

• Folio format: This is when a large sheet of paper is folded just once. This creates two leaves (four pages). Books made this way are usually very large. The famous Gutenberg Bible was printed in this large folio format.
• Quarto format: If a sheet is folded twice, it creates four leaves (eight pages). These books are smaller than folios.
• Octavo format: Folding a sheet three times makes eight leaves (16 pages). These books are even smaller and are common for many modern books.

The size of the original paper sheet and how many times it was folded determined the final size of the book.

The Importance of Folios in History

Folios played a huge role in how knowledge was shared throughout history.

• Manuscripts: Before printing, every book was a manuscript. Each folio was carefully prepared, often by hand, with beautiful writing and illustrations. These books were rare and very valuable.
• Early Printing: When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, he still used folios. Printers would print text on large sheets, which were then folded and bound into books. The size of the folio often showed how important or expensive a book was. Large folio books were often for important texts like Bibles or legal documents.
• Shakespeare's First Folio: A famous example is the First Folio of William Shakespeare's plays, published in 1623. This large book collected almost all of Shakespeare's plays for the first time. Without it, many of his plays might have been lost forever!

Understanding what a folio is helps us appreciate the history of books and how they were made, from ancient times to the early days of printing.

Images for kids

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  The title page of the Shakespeare First Folio, 1623. This book is a famous example of a folio-sized publication.

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  A single folio from a large Qur'an from North Africa, dating back to the 8th century.

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  A copy of the Gutenberg Bible, which was printed in a large folio format.