# Front matter

> Source: https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/front-matter

Last updated: 2026-09-06
Category: Manuscript & structure
Also called: Preliminaries · Prelims

Front matter is everything before a book’s main text — half title, title page, copyright page, contents, preface — numbered in roman numerals.

## Definition

**Front matter** (or *preliminaries*, "prelims") is the set of pages that precede the first chapter. In conventional order: the **half title** (title alone), an optional frontispiece or "also by" list, the **title page**, the **copyright page** on its verso, the **dedication**, an **epigraph**, the **table of contents**, then any foreword (written by someone else), preface (by the author) and acknowledgements.

Front matter is numbered in lowercase roman numerals (i, ii, iii …) so that the main text can begin at page 1 — and so the prelims can grow or shrink at the last minute without repaginating the book. Folios are usually *blind* (counted but not printed) on the display pages.

Most of these pages open on a **recto**; the blanks that result are normal. A short novel might carry six pages of front matter; an academic book can run to thirty.

## Related

- [Back matter](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/back-matter)
- [Copyright page](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/copyright-page)
- [Dedication](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/dedication)
- [Epigraph](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/epigraph)
- [Recto and verso](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/recto-and-verso)
- [Hardcover Memoir Maker](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/formats/hardcover-memoir-maker)
- [Turn a Word Document Into a Printed Book](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/tools/word-document-to-printed-book)
- [Book Publishing Glossary — 59 Terms Defined](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary)
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