QUIRES Meaning and
Definition
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Quires is a term that refers to sheets of paper collectively folded and bound together to form a book. It specifically pertains to gatherings of paper that are arranged and sewn in a specific order before being affixed to a bookbinding cover. A typical quire consists of several folded sheets, commonly made from parchment or vellum in earlier times, and later on, ordinary paper.
Historically, quires were a crucial component in the production of manuscripts and early printed books. They served as the basic organizational unit before the introduction of pagination. Quire numbers or signatures were often used to facilitate proper sequencing of the pages within a book.
A quire typically contains a specific number of folios, which are two pages of a book when it is opened to a spread. This measurement can vary depending on the size of the book and the desired thickness. In modern usage, a quire may consist of anywhere from four to thirty-two folios.
The term "quires" can also be used more broadly to describe manuscript volumes or collections of papers. In this sense, it encompasses manuscripts that are bound but not necessarily organized into distinct gatherings. It may also refer to sections or divisions within a larger manuscript or a collection of documents.
In summary, quires are folded and ordered sheets of paper or parchment that are sewn and bound together to form a book or manuscript. They serve as fundamental building blocks in book production and enable the coherent assembly and organization of written materials.
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Etymology of QUIRES
The word "quires" has a Latin origin. It comes from the Latin word "quaternī" which means "four each". In medieval manuscript production, a quire referred to a gathering of four folded sheets of parchment or paper, which were sewn together to make a section of a book. These quire sections were then bound together to form a complete manuscript. Over time, the term "quires" began to be used to refer to any individual section of a book, regardless of the number of folded sheets it contained.
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