1978, David A. Bloestein, Introduction, John Marston, David A. Bloestein (editor), Parasitaster: Or, The Fawn, page 47,
Both these formes, with running titles intact, were retained to print sheet D of Q2.

1994, Jay L. Halio, Introduction, Jay L. Halio (editor), William Shakespeare, The First Quarto of King Lear, page 21,
Q2 was printed in twenty-two formes.

In casting off, the printing house would judge the length of a manuscript to determine both how many sheets would be needed, and what the divisions were between one forme and another. (A forme is one side of a sheet: four quarto pages or two folio pages.) Because formes do not have many consecutive pages, estimates would be further broken down by page. If a quarto forme includes a putative page one, for instance, that side of the sheet would also include pages four, five, and eight.

Forme

Meaning

Noun

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