Category Archives: F

The term folio derives from the Latin word “folium” (leaf) and refers to a traditional book format in which the size of the page is determined by the fact that the sheets used in the production of the book are folded only once. An unfolded sheet is called an atlas format, double folio or large folio.

However, because the size of the initial sheet and thus the final size of the book can vary, librarians have established their own guidelines for categorizing book formats. In Germany, modern library categorization follows the guidelines of the Deutsche Bibliothek in Frankfurt am Main, which date back to the Prussian Instructions (PI). Although this falls back on the old book format designations, it defines them exclusively by the height of the spine. Today, books with a spine height of 40-45 cm are classified as folio format. Books in folio format are marked with the abbreviation fol. or indicated as 2° (for 2 sheets).

World-famous examples of books in folio format are the Gutenberg Bible and Shakespeare’s First Folio of 1623, which was printed in 1,000 copies, bound in calfskin and sold for the price of 1 pound. Of course, only very wealthy people could afford this book.

In modern book printing, the folio format is mainly used for elaborate illustrated books or faithful reprints (facsimiles) of precious books from past times. The folio format is also popular for documenting anniversaries: many companies, corporations or institutes prefer to document their (success) history in large format. These volumes are then often published as hand-picked editions.

Since the classic folio format does not conform to any DIN standard, but lies between the formats DIN A2 and DIN A1, it also places special demands on scanning systems during digitization.

Some originals cannot easily be placed open on the book cradle or the support table. Especially modern magazines or books and files with a tight binding usually do not stay open. They tend to close again, which makes scanning much more difficult. In this case, it usually makes sense to work with a glass or Makrolon© pressure plate. These plates hold the original in position and at the same time gently press the pages flat to improve the scanning result.

However, such plates are often troublesome, especially in the public sector, because they are prone to scratches and damages due to heavy use and improper handling. For this reason, difficult originals are often held down with the thumbs on the left and right during the scanning process. This means that fingers are often scanned as well, which is very annoying and undesirable. However, they do not pose a problem for our scanners. To remedy this shortcoming, our “Easy Scan” software offers the option of retouching these areas using the optional “Fingerprint Removal” function. The fingers are detected on the original and removed from the image using a logarithm.

Attention: This function is a subsequent image manipulation, which improves the optical perception, but no longer corresponds to the content of the original. Basically, all our systems are designed to create a color-accurate and true digital copy of the original. Such subsequent manipulation no longer complies with this principle.

Forensics, from the Latin forensic (belonging to the forum / market), is a collective term for scientific and technical fields in which criminal activities are systematically investigated. The history of the term originates from Roman times, during which a criminal charge meant presenting the case before a group of public individuals in the forum and defending it with facts and arguments. This origin is the source of the two modern usages of the word forensic – as a form of legal evidence and as a category of public presentation. In modern forensic science, scanning systems are used in particular to uncover forgeries of documents, certificates and works of art. This can be done primarily by using multispectral photography. It allows the non-invasive material analysis of handwriting, print and machine fonts, paper structures, color pigments, painting and drawing materials such as inks or chalks as well as the visualization of watermarks and signatures.