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A frontispiece in books is a decorative or informative illustration facing a book's title page—on the left-hand, or verso, page opposite the right-hand, or recto, page. In some ancient editions or in modern luxury editions the frontispiece features thematic or allegorical elements, in others is the author's portrait that appears as the frontispiece. In medieval illuminated manuscripts, a presentation miniature showing the book or text being presented (by whom and to whom varies) was often used as a frontispiece.
World Wide Words Entry
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File:Klostermayr Titel.jpg, A frontispiece and title page of
Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on book frontispieces Illustration Book design Book terminology Typography {{book-art-stub
A frontispiece in books is a decorative or informative illustration facing a book's title page—on the left-hand, or verso, page opposite the right-hand, or recto, page. In some ancient editions or in modern luxury editions the frontispiece features thematic or allegorical elements, in others is the author's portrait that appears as the frontispiece. In medieval illuminated manuscripts, a presentation miniature showing the book or text being presented (by whom and to whom varies) was often used as a frontispiece.
Origin
The word comes from theFrench
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
''frontispice'', which derives from the late Latin
Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...
''frontispicium'', composed of the Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
''frons'' ('forehead') and ''specere'' ('to look at'). It was synonymous with ' metoposcopy'. In English, it was originally used as an architectural term, referring to the decorative facade of a building. In the 17th century, in other languages as in Italian, the term came to refer to the title page of a book, which at the time was often decorated with intricate engravings that borrowed stylistic elements from architecture, such as columns and pediments
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedime ...
.
Over the course of the 17th century, the title page of a book came to be accompanied by an illustration on the facing page (known in Italian as ''antiporta''), so that in English the term took on the meaning it retains today as early as 1682. By then, the English spelling had also morphed, by way of folk etymology, from 'frontispice' to 'frontispiece' ('front' + 'piece').Michael Quinion,World Wide Words Entry
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Examples
Matthias Klostermayr
Matthias Klostermayr, also known as Bavarian Hiasl ( German ''Bayerischer Hiasl'', Austro-Bavarian ''Boarische Hiasl'') (3 September 1736—6 September 1771), was a German outlaw, poacher and social rebel who has come to be described, par ...
's biography (1772)
File:Yung Wing Frontispiece Title page My Life in China and America 1909 FRD 4824.jpg, A portrait of Yung Wing
Yung Wing (; November 17, 1828April 21, 1912) was a Chinese-American diplomat and businessman. In 1854, he became the first Chinese student to graduate from an American university, Yale College. He was involved in business transactions between C ...
used as the frontispiece of his 1909 book ''My Life in China and America''
File:Ferrel-2.jpg, Frontispiece to ''A popular treatise on the winds: Comprising the general motions of the atmosphere, monsoons, cyclones, tornadoes, waterspouts, hail-storms, etc.'' by William Ferrel (1904)
File:Maillet-3.jpg, Title page and frontispiece to ''Telliamed'' by Benoît de Maillet
Benoît de Maillet (Saint-Mihiel, 12 April 1656 – Marseille, 30 January 1738) was a well-travelled French diplomat and natural historian. He was French consul general at Cairo, and overseer in the Levant. He formulated an evolutionary hypothesi ...
(1749)
File:Kepler-6.jpg, Title page and frontispiece to volume I1 of ''Joannis Kepleri Astronomi Opera Omnia'' by Johannes Kepler (1858)
File:Carus-4.jpg, Frontispiece and title page to ''De Rerum Natura'' by Titus Lucretius Carus (1754)
File:Buffon-1-2.jpg, Frontispiece and title page to volume I of ''Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière'' by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1774)
File:Bode-2.jpg, Frontispiece illustration from Johann Bode's ''Anleitung zur Kentniss des Gestirnten Himmels'' (1772)
See also
* Book design *Shamsa
In Islamic art, a shamsa (Persian: شمسه ''shamseh'', Arabic: شمسة ''shums'') is an intricately decorated rosette or medallion which is used in many contexts, including manuscripts, carpets, ornamental metalwork and architectural decorat ...
References
External links
Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on book frontispieces Illustration Book design Book terminology Typography {{book-art-stub