duodecimo

American  

[doo-uh-des-uh-moh, dyoo-] / ˌdu əˈdɛs əˌmoʊ, ˌdju- /

noun

• duodecimos
  plural

1. Also called twelvemo.  a book size of about 5 × 7½ inches (13 × 19 centimeters), determined by printing on sheets folded to form 12 leaves or 24 pages. 12 mo, 12°

2. a book of this size.

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adjective

1. in duodecimo; twelvemo.

duodecimo British  

/ ˌdjuːəʊˈdɛsɪˌməʊ /

noun

1. Also called: twelvemo.  Often written: 12mo.   12°.  a book size resulting from folding a sheet of paper into twelve leaves

2. a book of this size

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• duodecimos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of duodecimo

First recorded in 1650–60; short for Latin in duodecimō “in twelfth”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

duodecimo duodecimos

The account published by Wafer, excepting what relates to the Isthmus of Darien, consists of short notices set down from recollection, and occupying in the whole not above fifty duodecimo pages.

From History of the Buccaneers of America by James Burney

In one large royal duodecimo volume, extra cloth, of nearly Six Hundred and Fifty double columned Pages.

From Endless Amusement A Collection of Nearly 400 Entertaining Experiments by Unknown

Charles prepared two editions of the Welsh Bible, one in duodecimo, published in 1806, and another in octavo, completed just before his death. 

From A Biographical Sketch of some of the Most Eminent Individuals which the Principality of Wales has produced since the Reformation by Robert Williams

Inside the second enclosure was a small, duodecimo volume, in a tattered binding.

From Between the Dark and the Daylight by Richard Marsh

Quarto and octavo editions of the New Testament alone were published in the same year, 1539, as the original edition, and in the following year, 1540, the New Testament in duodecimo.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 7 "Bible" to "Bisectrix" by Various

In describing the sale of his books in 1775 Dibdin almost lost himself in ecstasies over the magnificent folios, and the shining duodecimos 'printed on vellum and embossed with knobs of gold.'

From The Great Book-Collectors by Charles Isaac Elton

Let me hope that something may be proposed; I have myself hunted through dusty MS. folios, quartos, duodecimos innumerable, and my investigations have not been wholly useless.

From Notes and Queries, Number 184, May 7, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by George Bell

The dear little duodecimos of the last century, of course, are welcome in a library.

From Gossip in a Library by Edmund Gosse

There were huge, ponderous folios and quartos, and little duodecimos, in English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, and all other languages, that either originated at the confusion of Babel, or have since come into use.

From True Stories of History and Biography by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The volumes that formed the fuel of the barbarians' bonfire at Alexandria would be but a small book-stall by the side of the octavos, quartos, and duodecimos he has pyramidized on our book-shelves.

From The Humorous Poetry of the English Language; from Chaucer to Saxe by James Parton