Units of paper quantity Units of paper quantity Various measures of paper quantity have been and are in use. Although there are no S.I. units such as quires and bales, there are ISO and DIN standards for the ream. Expressions used here include U.S. Customary units. A quire of paper is a measure of paper quantity. The usual meaning is 25 sheets of the same size and quality: of a ream of 500 sheets. Quires of 25 sheets are often used for machine-made paper, while quires of 24 sheets are often used for handmade or specialised paper of 480-sheet reams. (As an old UK
First Folio texts were beyond the typesetters' capacity to correct. The Folio was typeset and bound in "sixes" – 3 sheets of paper, taken together, were folded into a booklet-like quire or gathering of 6 leaves, 12 pages. Once printed, the "sixes" were assembled and bound together to make the book. The sheets were printed in 2-page formes, meaning that pages 1 and 12 of the first quire were printed simultaneously on one side of one sheet of paper (which became the "outer" side); then pages 2 and 11 were printed on the other side of the same sheet (the "inner" side).