His Testament was in octavo

[Tinkerbell]

what is an octavo?

[BobK]

His Testament was in octavo

Presumably you want to know what this means. Some context would help as to the meaning of 'Testament' - it might be a will, or it might be a copy of the Bible (some editions include only the Old Testament, and some only the New Testament). 'In octavo' refers to paper size.

b

[Tinkerbell]

That I want to know is what is an octavo?

[BobK]

That I want to know is what is an octavo?

in octavo - Google Search

A large sheet of paper was a folio (Latin='leaf') (approx A2 in standard European size); quarto was a quarter of that (approx A4), octavo was a half of that (approx A5), decimo-sexto was half of that, and so on.

b

[BobK]

... decimo-sexto was half of that, and so on.

b

I got the ten and the six the wrong way round; it's 'sextodecimo': see more here: Paper size - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . There were other sizes, abbreviated Nvo or -mo: for example octavo = "8vo", duodecimo = "12mo" (pronounced, among printers, as "twelvemo".

But these sizes aren't much used now; my notepad at school was quarto, but students today have A4 notepads.

b

[Tinkerbell]

Thank you very much BobK