What is a Quire? Understanding the Historical Origins of Bookbinding

Quire is a term that was historically used to describe a section or bundle of paper that was folded together to form a book. The word "quire" comes from the Latin word "quadrus," which means "four," because each quire typically contained four pages.

In the context of bookmaking, a quire was a group of sheets of paper that were folded together and sewn or tied together along the spine to create a section of the book. The number of sheets in a quire could vary, but it was typically around four or eight. Each quire was then sewn or tied into the cover of the book, creating a signature that was part of the overall binding.

The use of quires as a unit of measurement for books has largely been replaced by modern bookmaking techniques and technologies, but the term is still used in some contexts to describe the structure and construction of old books.