Title Page

Title Page 

the first page or pages of a book, containing such information as the book’s title, the name of the author or editor, the publisher’s imprint and colophon, and the place and year of publication. The content of the title page is often expanded to include such additional information as the type of publication, the name of the institution issuing the book, and, in the case of textbooks, the name of the institution that has approved the book as a text or manual. A title page may consist of a single page or of a spread occupying two facing pages.

The single title page is the first page of a book; its reverse side sometimes has an annotation, the library catalog and trade numbers, and the copyright information. A frontispiece may face the single title page.

The double title-page spread, often used in multivolume and serial publications, consists of two facing pages. The left-hand page, or verso, contains information on the publication or series as a whole. The right-hand page, or recto, gives information about the volume in hand. Translated works sometimes have this type of title page, in which case the information on the left-hand side is in the original language, and on the right-hand side, in the language of the translation.

Another type of double title-page spread consists of two facing pages whose text and other graphic elements begin on the left-hand page and run across the right-hand page.

Some books have a half title directly preceding the title-page spread. The half title, or bastard title, briefly repeats such information from the title page as the name of the series and the publisher’s imprint and colophon. Part titles are headings of a book’s major subdivisions and are placed on separate pages. Title pages are produced by typesetting, reproduction processes, or a combination of both methods.

L. M. KACHALOVA