Title page
The title page is the page of a publication on which the title page is located. This is printed on the front ( recto ) of this sheet. Title page is often used synonymously for the title page.
location
- In newspapers and magazines , the front page has a special position, it is the very first and therefore visible page (the word cover is therefore more common here) or the front of the front page with the magazine's emblem , its lettering and the current cover picture ;
- In the case of books , brochures or paperbacks on the first page ( half-title ) and / or the third or fifth (both titles in the actual sense): The page that names the entire book title with subtitle and author and usually also the publisher .
Delimitations
When making statements on the title page, differentiations must be observed.
Today's books usually have colored covers or dust jackets on which the book title appears with an appealing picture, the cover picture . In book production, the cover or the front of the dust jacket with the book or work title is used here. The cover, however, is part of the prelims (book, brochure) and / or the title sheet (newspaper / magazine).
Title page in the front page
The title page is part of the front cover and has its historical place on the third (right) page of the book block . On the verso of the half-title, i.e. opposite the title on the second page, there was often the frontispiece in the past ; today the page is mostly blank. On the back of the title page, i.e. on page four of the book block, there is now the imprint , on which all the important data relating to the book are noted. The first page of the book block is called the dirty title page , on it the title is usually noted in abbreviated form.
Entries on the front page
The main bibliographic data are listed on the title page . In addition to the main title and subtitle of the book, the full name of the author and / or editor and , if applicable, the translator should also be given. The publisher, the place of publication and the year of publication should also be there. Sometimes the publisher's signature is also shown. On the frontispiece, too, there is often information that belongs to the title. This is mostly the case when a volume is published in a book series . The series title can then be found on this page .
Function of the title page
The title page is the “basis of modern bibliography and titles in librarian and bookseller catalogs”. With the help of the indexing of the book contents, directories can be created which make it possible to find specific literature quickly with the help of keywords . In addition, the title page provides further orientation for the reader. When it comes to buying a book, the front page is no longer decisive. The design of the binding or the dust jacket plays the most important role here.
history
In early prints, the title page was the book's first printed page. It could be preceded by a frontispiece - a title copper or, for cheaper books, a woodcut . Most bookbinders bound the frontispiece opposite the title page so that it was on the left (as in the example opposite) and the title page on the right. (At this point, a “copper title” is sometimes defined as a frontispiece that repeats the title with the picture or within the picture.)
Historical function of the title page
The title page was the most important page of the book up for sale until the beginning of industrial book production in the middle of the 19th century, i.e. as long as books were mainly sold unbound. For a long time it was the first visible page of the book block. In some cases, an elaborately designed copper title was bound in front of the actual title page . Often one read only a single long, graphically subdivided sentence on the title page, which first mentioned the title, summarized what information was offered in the book, noted the author or his pseudonym and ended with the imprint: the details of the place of publication, the Publisher and year of printing. Front pages were down, a book was offered, on top. The pages underneath were not yet cut open and therefore did not allow viewing. Only the bookbinder cut them open. Customers orientated themselves in the store using the information given on the front page. Today, the back of the book with a short text or the blurb on the flaps of the dust jacket (if it is a hardcover or a flap brochure) have taken on this function. Title pages were also often printed in excess and posted in bookstores; they thus functioned as printed book advertising. From the 18th century, the half-title page preceding the title page took up the first page of the book block for itself.
Change of front page
When the sale of finished bound books became the norm in the middle of the 19th century, these publisher covers took on the original role of frontispiece and title page. Especially after the Second World War this function was taken over by the dust jackets. The detailed information about the book is now in the imprint, mostly on the back ( verso ) of the title page or at the end of the book ( colophon ). The information that libraries, copyright and press law require from publications today has become too extensive to be placed on the front pages of the title pages; even additional information about the paper used and the font etc. can be found here in some book editions.
For a number of years, the Association of German-Language Translators of Literary and Scientific Works , VdÜ, has been demanding that the translator's name appear regularly on the front page. This practice is very slowly becoming common among publishers. It can only be legally enforced if the translation contract already contains a corresponding clause.
particularities
In early modern printing , it can be interesting to completely “ transcribe ” the title, that is, to copy the text on the title page line by line, respecting upper and lower case, and to mark the line break with a vertical line. This makes it possible to differentiate between print versions and later to recognize which information the book actually contained and which words were in the foreground (the individual large words that took up an entire line) - here with a note of the red print used :
- The so-called | Hell | the | Living, | that is | The world-professional | BASTILLE | to Paris, | What the well-known | Abbot, Count of Buquoy, | through his clever and heartfelt attacks | happy with the escape | and saved; | In addition to the now-mentioned abbot | Life run, | presented in a curious and true description, and translated anietzo from the French; | which also includes a message from the Bastille and its commanders. | [Line] | At the expense of good friends, | Printed in the month of May, anno 1719.
A more detailed guide to recording titles from the early modern period can be found in the article Title Recording .
literature
- Jost Hochuli: Book design in Switzerland . 2nd Edition. Pro Helvetia, Swiss Cultural Foundation, Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-908102-10-3 .
- Helmut Hiller, Stephan Füssel: Dictionary of the book . 6th edition. Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-465-03220-9 .
- Rainer Groothuis: How do books come to earth? About publishers and authors, manufacturers, sellers and designers, the calculation and the retail price, the beautiful book and related things . 2nd Edition. Dumont, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-7701-3164-9 .
- Ursula Rautenberg (Hrsg.): Reclams Sachlexikon des Buches . 2nd Edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-010542-0 .
