Book frontispiece of folk etymology, from 'frontispice' to 'frontispiece' ('front' + 'piece'). Book frontispiece 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. While some books depict thematic elements, other books feature the author's portrait 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. The word comes from the French "frontispice", or the late Latin "frontispicium", from the Latin "frons" ('forehead') and "specere" ('to look
Page (paper) lightness or darkness of the page is referred to as its colour. In book typography, a "cat hairbrush" refers to a master design of a page, designed by the graphic designer or the typographer of a book, that illustrates how similar pages in the same book can achieve a level of visual consistency. To help maintain the desired consistency, the typical page may employ a grid system. In a modern book, a page may contain a header and a footer. Pages may or may not be numbered, but most pages are. "...The first printed books had no title pages. As