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Octavo

Printing
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A book format made by folding a printed sheet three times. Each sheet produces eight leaves, or sixteen pages.

Detailed Definition
An octavo results from folding a printed sheet three times, creating eight leaves and sixteen pages. It generally produces a portable, book-sized volume and became a common format for poetry collections, anthologies, and pocket editions. Its manageable dimensions support private reading while keeping production costs relatively practical. In bibliography, the term may identify a book's construction rather than its exact modern measurements.
Example
Example in poetry:
An octavo is made by folding a sheet three times to produce eight leaves or sixteen pages; Many nineteenth-century poetry books appeared in octavo because the format was portable and economical; A poet may choose octavo size for a travel-themed collection that readers can carry easily; When examining an old poetry volume, a cataloguer may call it octavo based on its folded-sheet construction rather than its exact measurements
Additional Notes
Octavo formats fold a sheet three times, producing a compact book of eight leaves. Many trade poetry books use octavo-like proportions because they are portable and economical.
Also Known As
8vo In-Octavo Octavo Format
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