The book's offbeat
Similar to a movie's opening credits, the front matter is the introduction to a book. It should provoke eagerness and intrigue. It's used to "seduce" the reader to read on.
The contents of the front matter:
Page 1: The bastard title
The bastard title is supposed to lead over to the main title. THe bastard title contains the book's title, the author, optionally also the publisher's signet. The back side of the bastard title (i.e. page 2) remains blank, it is referred to as "white page".
Page 3: The main title
The main title is the most important page of the front matter. It contains the book's title, subtitle>, author, and the publishing company and year of publication.
Page 4: Imprint
The imprint is placed on the back side of the main title. It contains details on the publishing house, such as print office, illustrators, other producers, translation, reprint and copyright.
The font size is usually small, in most cases about 6 pt.
Page 5: The dedication title
The dedication title, also known as devotement title, is used if the book is to be dedicated to somebody. The dedication title should be kept discreet and not seem intrusive.
Page 7: Preface
The preface is an introduction to the actual text. It is the same font size as the standard text, but usually set italic. If the preface only takes up one page, the back side is left blank (white page).
Page 9: Table of contents
The table of contents, or index, may be placed before or after the preface - thus pages 7 and 9 may be interchanged.
The index may also be at the end of the book. If this is the case, there's usually a corresponding reference on this page.
General notes regarding the front matter:
Due to economic reasons, paperback books and other small print works may have a "pared-down" version of the front matter.
Font face and the typographic design should suite the content, and be consistent throughout the whole work.
There are no full stops in the front matter, except in the preface.