Foolscap folio

The slightly larger size of such a binder offers greater protection to the edges of the pages it contains.

[4][5] Foolscap was named after the fool's cap and bells watermark commonly used from the 15th century onwards on paper of these dimensions.

Unsubstantiated anecdotes suggest that this watermark was introduced to England in 1580 by John Spilman, a German who established a papermill at Dartford, Kent.

[8] The general pattern of the mark was used by Dutch and English papermakers in the late 17th and 18th centuries, and as early as 1674 the term "foolscap" was being used to designate a specific size of paper regardless of its watermark.

Today in the United States, a half-foolscap sized paper for printing is standardized to 8+1⁄2 by 14 inches (216 mm × 356 mm), widely available and sold as "legal sized paper" for printing, writing, note-taking etc.