frontispiece

American  

[fruhn-tis-pees, fron-] / ˈfrʌn tɪsˌpis, ˈfrɒn- /

noun

1. an illustrated leaf preceding the title page of a book.

2. Architecture. a façade, or a part or feature of a façade, often highlighted by ornamentation.

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frontispiece British  

/ ˈfrʌntɪsˌpiːs /

noun

1. an illustration facing the title page of a book

2. the principal façade of a building; front

3. a pediment, esp an ornamented one, over a door, window, etc

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Etymology

Origin of frontispiece

1590–1600; alteration (conformed to piece ) of earlier frontispice < French < Medieval Latin frontispicium, equivalent to Latin fronti- front + -spicium (combining form representing specere to look at)

Explanation

A frontispiece is an illustration on one of a book's first pages, usually opposite the title page. Some editions of Winnie the Pooh include a map of the Hundred Acre Wood as a frontispiece. Children's books and classics are most likely to have a frontispiece, which is considered a bit old-fashioned today. Your beloved copy of The Wind in the Willows or a collectible edition of Little Women probably include a frontispiece — and the volumes in your Harry Potter collection might as well. In architecture, a frontispiece is something that frames or decorates the entrance to a building. What these two kinds of frontispieces have in common is being located in the front of something.

Example Sentences

This research will be featured as a frontispiece in the upcoming issue of Advanced Materials and has secured both domestic and international patents.

From Science Daily • Feb. 13, 2024

After all, even Martin Droeshout’s frontispiece portrait for the First Folio shows a face that looks, to some eyes, like a mask.

From Washington Post • Apr. 21, 2023

Recast in vivid color, the frontispiece is enlarged to life-size scale, swapping out a generic female face for a specific one.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 6, 2022

The book's frontispiece is a sketch of two women who remind her that "even in the worst conditions, Black women have looked up at the night sky and wondered."

From Salon • Apr. 20, 2021

The riders were as pale as the fairy woman on the frontispiece, and their faces were hollow skulls, their mouths gaping open.

From "Ash" by Malinda Lo