![]() Genette refers to these elements as paratexts: they do not belong to the text but sit at the threshold of the text, and add meaning to it: All invite the reader to participate in the text. Gerard Genette identifies various devices and conventions that mediate between the text and the reader, including titles and subtitles, forewords, dedications, epigraphs, prefaces, epistles addressed to the reader, notes, epilogues and afterwords. However, in the 17 th century, the front matter of a book indicated to the reader how to engage with and understand the text. Indeed, it is rare to find frontispieces in modern books. Modern readers may be tempted to skip past the front matter of a book, including the frontispiece, title page, dedication, preface, etc., and start their reading – and understanding – from the main part of the text. Over the course of the 17 th century the title page was accompanied by an illustration on the facing page and the form of the word changed to frontispiece – front piece. Subsequently, the term was probably used more generally at first to refer to the front matter in a book, especially early title pages which were often decorated with architectural features such as classical columns and pediments. Its first English usage was as an architectural term for the façade of a building. The word frontispiece derives from the French word frontispice which derives from the Latin word frontispicium – frons meaning ‘forehead’ and specere meaning ‘to look at’. ![]()
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