The British Six Sheet measures approximately 80x81 and has been used since the early days of cinema and has been widely used. They are normally 4 separate sheets that are put together and they are issued folded.

Since the original size of the British 3 Sheet was 40x90, it would seem only logical that the early 6 sheets should have been about 80x90. Unfortunately we have not been able to find any so far. It also seems that the size varied a lot more than other sizes. The paper shortages from both wars have almost completely eliminated all remaining 6 sheets. They were large enough to be easily recycled and reused.

The film industry calls these a 12 sheet because at the turn of the century, the standard was a double crown (20x30) and it was approximately 12 times the size of a double crown. See our explanation on size terminology on the article on Poster Sizes. NOTICE: here's one shown from a 1939 pressbook for At the Circus. The pressbook was issued before the war:

 

Use of the 6 sheet continued after the war and was popular until the 1960s when it was basically replaced with the 16 sheet.

Here's a look at the British Six Sheets in our database

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