What is quire?

A quire is a group of folded and nested sheets of paper or parchment which make up a particular part of a book, manuscript, or document. It typically consists of four, eight, or sixteen sheets, which are folded in half and nested into each other to form a single unit. The term "quire" comes from the Latin word "quaterni", meaning "in fours".

Quiring was an important process in the production of books and manuscripts before the invention of the printing press. Scribes and bookbinders would assemble quires of parchment or paper, stitch them together, and then bind them into book form.

In modern usage, "quire" can also refer to a bundle of paper, usually containing 25 sheets, and is commonly used in the printing and paper industries.