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• colophon
  colophon

  noun

  a publisher's or printer's distinctive emblem, used as an identifying device on its books and other works.
• Colophon
  Colophon

  noun

  an ancient city in Asia Minor: one of the 12 Ionian cities banded together in the 8th century b.c.: largely depopulated in 286 b.c.

colophon

¹ American  

[kol-uh-fon, -fuhn] / ˈkɒl əˌfɒn, -fən /

noun

1. a publisher's or printer's distinctive emblem, used as an identifying device on its books and other works.

2. an inscription at the end of a book or manuscript, used especially in the 15th and 16th centuries, giving the title or subject of the work, its author, the name of the printer or publisher, and the date and place of publication.

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Colophon ² American  

[kol-uh-fon] / ˈkɒl əˌfɒn /

noun

1. an ancient city in Asia Minor: one of the 12 Ionian cities banded together in the 8th century b.c.: largely depopulated in 286 b.c.

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colophon British  

/ -fən, ˈkɒləˌfɒn /

noun

1. a publisher's emblem on a book

2. (formerly) an inscription at the end of a book showing the title, printer, date, etc

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• colophonic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of colophon

1615–25; < Latin < Greek kolophṓn summit, finishing touch

Explanation

A colophon is the emblem, logo, or imprint of a publisher. Colophons often appear on the title page of a book. Businesses usually have distinctive logos, and publishers are no different. The emblem or imprint of a publisher is called a colophon, and you can think of it as their brand. A colophon appears on every book put out by a publisher, and it often appears on the spine of the book and/or on the title page. The colophon lets everyone know who published the book. This word is from Greek via Latin and originally meant "finishing touch."

Example Sentences

Persons who are literary-minded read magazines like The Bookman, The Saturday Review of Literature, The Colophon, But the booklover and the average reader may be completely different persons.

From Time Magazine Archive

He once wrote a readable one: Curse in the Colophon.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hence doubtless the claim of Colophon to be the native city of Homer—a claim supported in the early times of Homeric learning by the Colophonian poet and grammarian Antimachus.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 6 "Home, Daniel" to "Hortensius, Quintus" by Various

Colophon, kol′o-fon, n. in early printing, the inscription at the end of a book with name, date, &c.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

And Nicander of Colophon, in his Dialects, calls unleavened bread δάρατος.

From The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athen?us by Athen?us