a publisher's or printer's distinctive emblem, used as an identifying device on its books and other works.
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.
a publisher's emblem on a book
(formerly) an inscription at the end of a book showing the title, printer, date, etc
1615–25; < Latin < Greek kolophṓn summit, finishing touch
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."
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The differences between the editions, which begin with the colophon, include extended or altered scenes and three distinct endings.
From New York Times ● May 3, 2020
In 2004, we caught a group of beetle experts with 232 colophon beetles.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 11, 2015
Avon, one of the most resolutely down-market of the major paperback imprints, used an image of Shakespeare’s head as a colophon.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 29, 2014
I washed them down with a bottle of Leninade, a Soviet-themed red lemonade served in a bottle with a hammer-and-sickle colophon.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2014
When I accessed the planet’s colophon, I saw that Syrinx’s author was listed as “Anonymous.”
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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
ARACHNE, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Idmon of Colophon in Lydia, a dyer in purple.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 3 "Apollodorus" to "Aral" by Various
One of her early lovers was the poet Hermesianax of Colophon, to whom she owed her literary training.
From Greek Women by Carroll, Mitchell
The Troad was conquered, Colophon captured from the Greeks, Smyrna besieged and alliances entered into with Ephesus and Miletus.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 7 "Gyantse" to "Hallel" by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
