duodecimo
/ˌdjuːə(ʊ)ˈdɛsɪməʊ
/noun (plural duodecimos)
1A size of book in which each leaf is one twelfth of the size of the printing sheet.Smaller formats could make printing less expensive, and text from a quarto edition could be squeezed into a duodecimo with considerable savings in paper - still a precious commodity in the age before wood pulp....
- His estimation of the capacities of youth was generous in comparison; this more aggressive abridger turned the nineteen volumes of the three novels into a 232-page duodecimo.
- It is a bunched, busy duodecimo, and in it, the reader can find stock poetic eloquence, like his, tailored to suit his circumstances.
1.1A duodecimo book.Such was this shameful war of Bibles - folios, quartos, and duodecimos, even in the days of Charles the First....
- Beware, too, of the vulgar error of fancying that little duodecimos with the mark of the fox and the bee's nest, and the motto ‘Quaerendo,’ come from the press of the Elzevirs.
- The Elzevirian duodecimos achieved great contemporary popularity, and many authors thought it an honor to have their writings included in the series.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin (in) duodecimo 'in a twelfth', from duodecimus 'twelfth'.