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Comment by mxfh | Hacker News Reader

Is there are reason that B5 sized paper sheets are only available as imports from Japan in Europe?

The strict interpretation of the B series as a packaging format for the A series only seems somewhat archaic.

The A size formats are based around A0 being 1m² in area, the B size formats are based around the short edge of B0 being 1m long. The aspect ratio of both A & B sizes are √2.

Lack of demand in the States for ISO 216 sizes in general makes it so that relatively/comparatively few stock such paper in the U.S. When wanting to print to the edges (full bleed), publishers will often print on B sized paper sheets with crop marks for A size (and then crop the paper to A size) or similarly print on A and crop to B.

WARNING: Japanese B-series paper is not the same as ISO B-series paper!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_size#Japanese_B-series_va...

B5 paper sheets don't seem to be easily available in the UK.

B5 books are the most common size though, most of my school exercise books were B5 or B4 — that allowed me to glue in a sheet of A-sized paper, possibly folded in half.

Why do you prefer B5 to A4 for paper?

To answer your question about my preference... For non-fiction books, A4 pages seem too big for me, A5 pages seem little too small to me, and B5 pages seem just right. Again, this is just for non-fiction books. Fiction books I prefer more A5-sized. Just my own personal, subjective preference. That's all.

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