Foolscap folio: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:19, 16 June 2021

Revision as of 17:23, 13 July 2021

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[[File:FolioA4.svg|thumb|A comparison of the A4 and Foolscap folio papersize]]

'''Foolscap folio''' (commonly contracted to '''foolscap''' or '''cap''' or '''folio''' and in short '''FC''') is [[paper]] cut to the size of {{cvt|8+1/2|xx|13+1/2|in|sigfig=3}} for printing or to {{cvt|8|xx|13|in|sigfig=3}} for "normal" writing paper (foolscap).<ref>[https://papersizes.io/traditional-british/ PaperSizes, '''‘foolscap’''' is an alias for '''foolscap folio'''.]</ref> This was a traditional [[paper size]] used in Europe and the [[British Commonwealth]], before the adoption of the international standard [[A4 paper]].

A full (''plano'') foolscap<ref>[https://paper-size.com/size/foolscap-imperial-sizes.html PaperSize, '''‘Foolscap’''' Paper Size Dimensions, Imperial.]</ref> paper sheet is actually {{cvt|13+1/2|xx|17|in|sigfig=3}} in size, and a [[folio (printing)|folio]] sheet of any type is half the base sheet size.

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==History==

===Europe===

Foolscap was named after the [[Court jester|fool]]'s [[cap and bells]] [[watermark]] commonly used from the fifteenth century onwards on paper of these dimensions.<ref>{{cite book |author=Müller, Lothar |title=White Magic: The Age of Paper. |place=Cambridge|publisher=Polity Press |date=2014|page=173}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/foolscap|title=Foolscap|last=Anon|work=The Free Dictionary|publisher=Farlex Inc.|accessdate=17 September 2009}}</ref> The earliest example of such paper was made in Germany in 1479. Unsubstantiated anecdotes suggest that this watermark was introduced to England in 1580 by [[John Spilman]], a German who established a papermill at [[Dartford (borough)|Dartford]], Kent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/gallery/|title=Entry in the Dartford Holy Trinity parish register for Sir John Spielman (Spillman), 8 November 1626|last=Anon|work=Medway: City Ark Document Gallery|publisher=Medway Council|accessdate=17 September 2009}}</ref> Apocryphally, the [[Rump Parliament]] substituted a fool's cap for the royal arms as a watermark on the paper used for the journals of Parliament.{{cn|date=March 2017}}

The general pattern of the mark was used by Dutch and English papermakers in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and as early as 1674 the term 'foolscap' was being used to designate a specific size of paper regardless of its watermark.<ref>{{citation |last1=Ashbee |first1=Andrew |last2=Thompson |first2=Robert |last3=Wainwright |first3=Jonathan |chapter=Appendix I: 08-Watermarks and Paper Types |publisher=The Viola da Gamba Society |page=279 [29] |chapter-url=https://vdgs.org.uk/indexmss/08%20Watermarks.pdf |title=Index of Manuscripts containing Consort Music, Volume 1 |url=https://vdgs.org.uk/indexmss/ |accessdate=13 July 2021}} - Shows several types of foolscap watermark</ref>

Apocryphally, the [[Rump Parliament]] of 1648–1653 substituted a fool's cap for the royal arms as a watermark on the paper used for the journals of Parliament.<ref>{{cite book

|last=Johnston

|first=William G.

|title=Life and Reminiscences from Birth to Manhood of Wm. G. Johnston

|place=Pittsburgh

|publisher=Knickerbocker Press

|year=1901

|page=195

|url=https://archive.org/details/lifereminiscence00john/page/195/mode/1up}}</ref> According to the ''Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins'', there is sadly no basis in fact for this statement.<ref>

{{cite book

|last=Cresswell

|first=Julia

|title=Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins

|edition=3rd

|publisher=Oxford University Press

|date=2021

|isbn=9780192639370

|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3HA3EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT502&lpg=PT502&dq=watermark+royal+arms}}</ref>{{pn|date=July 2021}}{{efn|[[Charles I of England|Charles I]] was executed on 30 January 1649, which would have been the cause of this supposed change. There were only around 40 mills making hand-made paper in England between 1601 and 1650, with 23 of them within thirty miles of London.<ref name="Hills" >{{cite book

|last=Hills

|first=Richard Leslie

|title=Papermaking in Britain 1488-1988: A Short History

|series=History: Bloomsbury Academic Collections

|edition=reprint

|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing

|date=2015

|page=52

|isbn=9781474241281

|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Zn5qCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA52}}</ref> It appears that the manufacture of white paper in England had come to a halt in around 1641, perhaps because of the lack of a [[linen]] industry for raw materials, and more likely because of the impact of the troubled times leading to the [[First English Civil War|Civil War]]. The French had become the most prominent supplier of white paper from around 1600–1675, when the Dutch took over.<ref name="Hills" /> If there is any truth in the matter, it is possible that imported paper bearing such a mark might be the cause.}}

===USA===

In the United States in the 19th century, paper was sold either flat or folded in half. Folded foolscap was often 12 1/2 x 16, but smaller and larger sizes were also found.<ref name="Monachesi" >{{cite book

|editor1-last=Monachesi

|editor1-first=Herbert D.

|editor2-last=Yohn

|editor2-first=Albert B.

|title=The stationers' hand-book; a practical business guide chiefly intended for the use of retail stationers and book-sellers

|place=New York

|publisher=Office of the Publishers' Weekly

|year=1876

|pages=4–8

|url=https://archive.org/details/stationershandbo00mona}}</ref> Legal foolscap (8 x 24 inches) was always sold ruled and folded in half at the printers by a [[folding machine]], resulting in a leaflet 8x12 (almost the modern A4 8.27 x 11.69 inches, 21.0 x 29.7 cm)<ref name="Monachesi" />

There were numerous other sizes with variations on the 'Cap' name:

*Flat Cap (14 x 17) (ie unfolded)

*Small Flat Cap (or Law Blank Cap, Corporation Cap or Legal Cap) (13 x 16 inches)

*Exchange Cap - thin, highly [[calendered]], hard and strong paper used for bills of exchange, certificates and other blanks where light weight and ability to receive hard usages was required.

*Drawing Cap, cold-pressed, for making drawing books and printing imitation antique work

*Double Cap Writing (17 x 28) for both writing and ledger papers.

*Double Foolscap (26 1/2 x 16 3/4)<ref name="Monachesi" />

== Oficio (Mexican)==

In Mexico, the '''foolscap folio''' paper size {{convert|8+1/2|×|13+1/2|in|sigfig=3}} / (21.6 cm x 34 cm) <ref>[https://www.officedepot.com.mx/medias/83143.jpg-1200ftw?context=bWFzdGVyfHJvb3R8NDE0NDAyfGltYWdlL2pwZWd8aDE5L2g3Mi85NTg1NDc4NTY1OTE4LmpwZ3xiZTUwODA5YWI2MDE2Yzg1OGZmN2E2N2Y0Y2E2MjNmMTc0MDdiNDI0OTZkYzViMzdlZDc0ODJmOGY4MTkzZjMx Photo of '''foolscap folio''' paper (* Mexican).]</ref> is named (locally) ''oficio'' or 'office'.

==F4==

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==References==

;Notes

{{notelist}}

;Citations

{{reflist}}

== External links ==

*[http://collation.folger.edu/2012/06/learning-to-read-old-paper/ THEThe COLLATIONCollation]. a gathering of scholarship from the Folger Library showing image of Foolscap folio watermark]

*{{cite web |url=http://ihl.enssib.fr/en/paper-and-watermarks-as-bibliographical-evidence/bibliographical-annotations-and-orientations |last=Harris |first=Neil |title=Paper and Watermarks as Bibliographical Evidence |place=Lyon |date=2017 |publisher=Institut d'histoire du livre}}

{{Paper}}