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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.

Units

Writing paper measurements

25 sheets = 1 quire

500 sheets = 20 quires = 1 ream

1,000 sheets = 40 quires = 2 reams = 1 bundle

5,000 sheets = 200 quires = 10 reams = 5 bundles = 1 bale

'Short' paper measurements

24 sheets = 1 'short' quire

480 sheets = 20 'short' quires = 1 'short' ream

960 sheets = 40 'short' quires = 2 'short' reams = 1 'short' bundle

4,800 sheets = 200 'short' quires = 10 'short' reams = 5 'short' bundles = 1 'short' bale

Posters and printing measurements

516 sheets (= 21½ 'short' quires) = 1 printer's ream

1,032 sheets = 2 printer's reams = 1 printer's bundle

5,160 sheets = 5 printer's bundles = 1 printer's bale

Cover and Index paper

250 sheets = 1 ream

Quire

A quire of paper is a measure of paper quantity. The usual meaning is 25 sheets of the same size and quality; 1/20 of a ream of 500 sheets. Quires of 25 sheets are often used for machine-made paper, while 24 sheets are often used for handmade or specialised paper of 480-sheet reams (As an old UK and US measure, in some sources, Quire was previously equals to 24sheets. .) Quires of 15, 18 or 20 sheets have also been used, depending on the type of paper.

History

In the Middle Ages, a quire (also called a "gathering") was most often formed of 4 folded sheets of vellum or parchment, i.e. 8 leaves, 16 sides. The term "quaternion" (or sometimes quaternum) designates such a quire. A quire made of a single folded sheet (i.e. 2 leaves, 4 sides) is a "bifolium" (plural "bifolia"); a "binion" is a quire of two sheets (i.e. 4 leaves, 8 sides); and a "quinion" is five sheets (10 leaves, 20 sides). This last meaning is preserved in the modern Italian meaning of quire, quinterno di carta.

The current word "quire" derives from OE "quair" or "guaer", from OF "quayer", "cayer", (cf. modern Fr. cahier), from L. quaternum, "by fours", "fourfold". Later, when bookmaking switched to using paper and it became possible to easily stitch 5 to 7 sheets at a time, the association of "quaire" with "four" was quickly lost.

Formerly, when paper was packed at the paper mill, the top and bottom quires were made up of slightly damaged sheets ("outsides") to protect the good quires ("insides"). These outside quires were known as "cassie quires" (from Fr. cassée, "broken"), or "cording quires" and had only 20 sheets to the quire. The printer William Caslon in a book published in 1770 mentions both 24- and 25-sheet quires; he also details printer's wastage, and the sorting and recycling of damaged cassie quires. An 1826 French manual on typography complained that cording quires (usually containing some salvageable paper) from the Netherlands barely contained a single good sheet.

It also became the name for any booklet small enough to be made from a single quire of paper. Simon Winchester, in The Surgeon of Crowthorne, cites a specific number, defining quire as "a booklet eight pages thick." Several European words for quire keep the meaning of "book of paper": Ger. Buch von Papier, Dan. Bog Papiier, Du. bock papier.

In blankbook binding, quire is a term indicating 80 pages.

Ream

A ream of paper is a quantity of sheets of the same size and quality. International standards organizations define the ream as 500 identical sheets. This ream of 500 sheets (20 quires of 25 sheets) is also known as a 'long' ream, and is gradually replacing the old value of 480 sheets, now known as a 'short' ream. Reams of 472 and 516 sheets are still current, but in retail outlets paper is typically sold in reams of 500. As an old UK and US unit, a perfect ream was equals to 516 sheets.

Certain types of specialist papers such as tissue paper, greaseproof paper, handmade paper, and blotting paper are still sold (especially in the UK) in 'short' reams of 480 sheets (20 quires of 24 sheets). However, the commercial use of the word 'ream' for quantities of paper other than 500 is now deprecated by such standards as ISO 4046. In Europe, the DIN 6730 standard for Paper and Board includes a definition of 1 ream of A4 80gsm paper=500 sheets.

The word 'ream' derives from Old French reyme, from Spanish resma, from Arabic rizmah "bundle" (of paper), from rasama, "collect into a bundle". (The Moors brought manufacture of cotton paper to Spain.) Early variant rym (late 15c.) suggests a Dutch influence. (cf. Du. riem), probably during the time of Spanish Habsburg control of the Netherlands.

History

The number of sheets in a ream has varied locally over the centuries, often according to the size and type of paper being sold. Reams of 500 sheets (20 quires of 25 sheets) were known in England in c.1594; in 1706 a ream was defined as 20 quires, either 24 or 25 sheets to the quire. In 18th- and 19th-century Europe, the size of the ream varied widely. In Lombardy a ream of music paper was 450 or 480 sheets; in Britain, Holland and Germany a ream of 480 sheets was common; in the Veneto it was more frequently 500. Some paper manufacturers counted 546 sheets (21 quires of 26 sheets). J.S. Bach's manuscript paper at Weimar was ordered by the ream of 480 sheets. In 1840, a ream in Lisbon was 17 quires and 3 sheets = 428 sheets, and a double ream was 18 quires and 2 sheets = 434 sheets; and in Bremen, blotting or packing paper was sold in reams of 300 (20 quires of 15 sheets). A mid-19th century Milanese-Italian dictionary has an example for a risma (ream) as being either 450 or 480 sheets

In the UK in 1914, paper was sold using the following reams:

• 472 sheets - Mill ream (18 short quires of 24 sheets of 'insides', 2 cording quires of 20 sheets of 'outsides')
• 480 sheets - (20 short quires of 24 sheets) Now called 'short' ream (As an old UK and US measure, in some sources, ream was previously equals to 480 sheets.
• 500 sheets - (20 quires of 25 sheets) Now also called 'long' ream
• 504 sheets - Stationer's ream (21 short quires)
• 516 sheets - Printer's ream (21½ short quires) Also called 'perfect ream'

Reams of 500 sheets were mostly used only for newsprint. Since the late 20th century, the 500-sheet ream has become the de facto international standard.

Bale

A paper bale is a quantity of sheets of paper, currently standardized as 5,000 sheets. A bale consists of 5 bundles, 10 reams or 200 quires. As an old UK and US measure, it was previously equals to 4800 sheets.

Bundle

A paper bundle is a quantity of sheets of paper, currently standardized as 1,000 sheets. A bundle consists of 2 reams or 40 quires. As an old UK and US measure, it was previously equals to 960 sheets.

See also

• History of paper
• History of printing
• Paper density

Notes

1. A note on the flyleaf of this copy states that this edition was pirated from Didot's 1st ed. of 1825; see pp.235-6, especially in respect of the examples of proof-reader's corrections on pp.162-3
2. ISO 4046 (see References) defines the ream as "a pack of 500 identical sheets of paper" and appends a note: "In many countries it is common practice to use the term “ream” for other quantities, for example 480 sheets, thus affecting the quire. For quantities other than 500 sheets, a different term, such as “pack”, should be used."

References

1. ^ ISO 4046-3:2002 Paper, board, pulps and related terms — Vocabulary — Part 3: Paper-making terminology (2002), quoted in ISO 22414:2004(E) Paper — Cut-size office paper — Measurement of edge quality (2004) Geneva:ISO
2. ^ Papier und Pappe: DIN 6730:2011-02: Begriffe (Paper and board: vocabulary) (2011) (in German). Berlin: Beuth Verlag.
3. 1998 Mead Composition Notebook 'Useful Information'
4. ^ Cardarelli, F. (2003). Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. Their SI Equivalences and Origins. London: Springer. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-4471-1122-1.
5. Zupko, Ronald Edward (1985). A dictionary of weights and measures for the British Isles: the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Volume 168 of Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society. American Philosophical Society. p. 346. ISBN 978-0-87169-168-2.
6. Luckombe, Philip; Caslon, William (1770). A concise history of the origin and progress of printing: with practical instructions to the trade in general, compiled from those who have wrote on this curious art. London: W. Adlard and J. Browne. p. 492.
7. Brun, Marcelin Aimé (1826). Manuel pratique et abrégé de la typographie française (in French) (2nd ed.). Paris: P-M. de Vroom, Rue de Louvain. p. 27.
8. Prytherch, Raymond John (2005). Harrod's librarians' glossary and reference book: a directory of over 10,200 terms, organizations, projects and acronyms in the areas of information management, library science, publishing and archive management (10th, revised ed.). Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 583. ISBN 978-0-7546-4038-7.
9. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ream
10. Hall, Hubert; Nicholas, Frieda J. (1929). Selected tracts and table books relating to English weights and measures (1100-1742). Camden Third Series Vol. 41, Royal Historical Society: Volume XV of Camden miscellany. Royal Historical Society, for the Camden Society (Great Britain).
11. Chamberlayne, John, John (1710). Magnae Britanniae Notitia: or, the present state of Great-Britain: with divers remarks upon the antient state thereof, Volume 1. London: T. Goodwin, M. Wotton, B. Jooke. p. 168.
12. Rasch, Rudolf (2005). Music publishing in Europe 1600-1900: concepts and issues bibliography. BWV Verlag. p. 109. ISBN 978-3-8305-0390-3.
13. Wolff, Christoph (2000). Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 167.
14. Doursther, Horace (1840). Dictionnaire universel des poids et mesures anciens et modernes: contenant des tables des monnaies de tous les pays (in French). Paris: M. Hayez, imprimeur de l'Académie royale. pp. 242, 462.
15. Cherubini, Francesco (1841). Vocabulario milanese-italiano, Volumes 3-4 (in Italian/Milanese dialect). Milan: Imp. regia stamperia. p. 56.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
16. ^ Dawe, Edward A (1914). Paper and its uses: a treatise for printers, stationers and others. London: Crosby Lockwood & Son. pp. 33–34, 134.
17. Cardarelli, François Cradarelli (2003). Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. London: Springer. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-4471-1122-1.

External links

• ream at A Dictionary of Units of Measurement
• ream at The Online Quantinary, yet see quire at the same site for historical evidence of 500-sheet reams as early as 1590.

• Units of amount
• Paper