Coquille

With dimensions of 440mm x 560mm, the Coquille format has a surface area of 246,400 sq mm or 0.2464 sq meters. Its name comes from the French word for seashell, referring to early decorative watermarks common when sheets of this size were crafted by hand. The shell motif symbolizes Coquille's long standing use in mapmaking and maritime navigation going back centuries in French nautical history. While international ISO sizes now prevail, Coquille enjoys niche use for geospatial diagrams, travel journals, greeting cards, nautical instrumentation blueprints, tidal calendars, and oceanic reference guides. It bridges smaller personalized works with oversized prints. So although scarcely produced today beyond artisan papers, Coquille carries on France’s rich ties to the ocean as a classic format for marine navigation charts, complementing modern digital mapping technology. From tall ships to satellites, its legacy lives on for those following ancestral routes across the seas - whether naval captains or island vacationers seeking a tangible logbook. The watermarked shell shape persists thanks to preservation by sailors, fishermen and lighthouse keepers.