NOTES ON THE STANDARDIZATION OF PAPER SIZES by A. D. DUNN TS 1118 s5 D4forte $5 CANADA NATIONAL LIBRARY BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE Arthur D. Dunn, P. Eng. Mr. Dunn is a professional engineer and inter- ests himself in the problems of standardization in the field of information handling in what is known as a special projects section of the Canadian Government Specifications Board, a branch of the Department of Supply and Services of the Federal Government. He is also an active member of the Canadian Standards Association and, as such, is a member of the Advisory Committee on Paper Standardization for Canada in the International Organization for Stan- dardization, as well as several other technical advi- sory bodies. In addition, he acts as an advisor on stan- dardization to the U.S. Government.“The entire text ofthis booklet was produced on the Linatron 605 phototypeseting installation in the Composing Room of The London Free Press Printing Company Limite, London, Ontario, Cana {Se The Linolron 505 lea third generation photatypeetter Which combines the use of a computer tem and cathode ray tube techniques to produce tue pographie quality st high speeds. Tie the second instalation inal Canada of this ype of equlpnent IS THIS THE ORIGIN OF STANDARD PAPER SIZES? In the early days of the city of Bologna in Italy very careful considera- tion was given to the use of paper because of the expense and importance of the information contained on paper. Documents of greatest importance were recorded on parchment and instructions were given to municipal officials that only hand-made paper would be used for municipal documents. The cheaper, or normal papers, as they were called, were presumably only used for working papers and, after use, were burned to ensure that only the important papers were kept. The reason for this form of disposal was not known and its origin, evidently decided from an earlier administration, reflects the experience of years, probably from the date of the first making of paper in Bologna, believed to be one of the first cities to produce paper in Europe. Because of this discriminatory move by the municipal officials of Bologna, much of the papers that could relate to the history of Bologna no longer exist. However, there is a great number of parchment documents on which the laws of a community were outlined. Around the year 1398, a marble tablet was placed in a publie place in Bologna and this tablet is now in the medieval section of the Civic Museum of Bologna, ‘The inscription on the marble reads, “These are the sizes of the molds of the community of Bologna corresponding to the sizes of paper noted which must be manufactured in Bologna and district, and are indicated here below.” BOLOGNESE SIZES IN 1398 MODERN SIZES Recute (small) 315 x 450 mm | Protocollo 320 x 440 mm Mecane (medium) 345 x 515 mm | Arispetto 340 x 460 mm Realle 445 x 615 mm | Reale (1) 4460 x 620 mm. Imperiale 580 x 780 mm Imperialle 500 x 740 mm | Imperialino 530 x 700 mm, It has been the standard practice for historians in the paper industry in ‘most countries for many years to refer, early on in their writing, to this marble document which was formerly enclosed in the Palazzo deghi Anziani and later at the Merlani Printing House in the Via Accuse which has since disappeared. (1) This size is very similar to ISO size A2 (430 x 610 mm),