Meaning & use

octavo

noun·Advanced

A book size made by folding a printing sheet into eight leaves, or a book of that size.

See it in a sentence

The rare bookshop displayed a first-edition octavo bound in worn leather.

Printers favored the octavo format for novels because it was compact and affordable.

A note on using this word

Octavo is one of several traditional paper-fold sizes, alongside the larger folio and quarto formats.

Words with a similar meaning

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