What “Large Print” Really Means in a Puzzle or Trivia Book
“Large print” sells books. It is also one of the easiest claims in publishing to make and one of the hardest for a buyer to check before the package arrives. There is no legal definition, no certification body and nothing stopping any publisher from printing the words on a cover.
That matters most for the exact person these books are usually bought for: someone in their seventies, eighties or nineties whose eyesight is not what it was. So here is a straight answer, with numbers you can hold us to.
What the charities actually say
RNIB, the UK sight-loss charity, publishes the clearest scale we could find. It describes clear print as usually 14 point, large print as usually 16 point or higher, and giant print as usually 18 point or larger. Its own giant-print library books are set at 24 point. (Source: RNIB, “What are the different font sizes such as clear print, large print and giant print?”, help.rnib.org.uk, read 17 October 2026.)
For comparison, the body text of an ordinary paperback novel is usually set well below 14 point. That is the gap large-print editions exist to close.
The measured size of every Ellis Gray book
These are not numbers copied from a cover. Each one was measured from the actual print-ready file that went to the printer, which is why two books have no figure: we have not measured those, so we do not claim one.
- 60th Birthday Word Search and 50th Birthday Word Search: puzzle grid letters at 18.6 point, word lists at 16 point. Both clear RNIB's large-print threshold, and the grids themselves reach giant print.
- Secret Garden Festival story and coloring book: story text at 16 point. Large print by RNIB's scale, which also suits a child reading along.
- 90th Birthday Trivia Book: 14.5 point. That is clear print, a little above RNIB's 14-point mark, but below the 16 points that large print implies.
- 80th Birthday Trivia Book: 13 point. Comfortable for most readers, but below clear print on RNIB's scale.
- The 50th and 60th birthday trivia books, and the stand-alone coloring book: not measured, so no figure is published.
What that means if you're buying for someone with poor eyesight
If the recipient struggles with small text, the word search books are the safest choice in our catalog: 18.6-point letters in the grids is larger than most books of any kind. Between the two trivia books, the 90th at 14.5 point is noticeably more comfortable than the 80th at 13 point.
We would rather tell you that than sell you the wrong book. A trivia book nobody can read is not a gift, and the person opening it will be too polite to say so.
How to check any book before you buy it
- Look for a number, not an adjective. “Large print” on its own tells you nothing; “16 point” tells you everything.
- Ask what was measured. Puzzle grid letters, word lists and body text are often different sizes in the same book, as they are in ours.
- Use the Look Inside feature where the seller offers one, and judge the page rather than the cover.
- Be careful with page count as a proxy. Bigger type with the same content means more pages, so a thin “large print” book is worth a second look.
Every measured size we have is listed in one table in the print size of every book, and each book page repeats its own figure under Book details.
