Below you will find Terms and Explanations of various parts of a book.
Front Matter: The information that appears up front and first in a book. The typical parts of a book’s Front Matter are listed below in the order they generally appear in a book.
Half Title: Just the title of the book.
Frontspiece: A piece of artwork on the left (“verso”) side of the page opposite the title page on the right (“recto”) side.
Title Page: A page that contains the title of the book, the author (or authors), and the publisher.
Colophon: A brief listing of production information, often including typeface details and information related to any artwork. Sometimes this information is put on the Copyright page or in the Back Matter of a book.
Copyright Page: The page in a book containing information about the current edition, usually on the back of the title page. The Copyright page will usually include:
• the declaration of copyright, (who owns the copyright—generally the authors).
• other types of credits, such as illustrators, editorial staff, indexer, etc., and sometimes notes from the publishers.
• copyright acknowledgments, for books that contain reprinted material that requires permissions, such as excerpts, song lyrics, etc.
• edition number, represents the number of the edition and of the printing. Some books will specifically note “First Edition”; others don’t declare that they are first editions, and instead represent their printings with a number. In those cases, a first edition would look like: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. A second edition would be noted as: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2.
• Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data, includes information such as title, authors, ISBN, Library of Congress number, subject matter, year of publication.
Dedication: Where the author honors an individual or individuals by declaring that the labor of the book is “To [name or names].”
Acknowledgments: A section in the book, either in the front or back matter, that expresses gratitude for the help an author received during the book’s publication.
Table of Contents (Contents): Outlines what is in each chapter of the book and the page number it is located.
Foreword: A short introduction to a book, typically written by someone other than the author.
Preface: An introduction to a book, typically stating its subject, scope, or aims.
Introduction: The author describes the subject of the book, supplementing and introducing the text and indicating a point of view to be adopted by the reader.
Body Matter : Body matter is the core content of the book. The core content is most often divided into discrete segments, most commonly chapters. If larger content requires divisions, they are called:
• Parts
• Sections
• Chapters
Back Matter (or End Matter): Back Matter is the content at the back of the book, and these elements are considered optional. The typical parts of a book’s Back Matter are listed below in the order they generally appear in a book.
Acknowledgments: A section in the book, either in the front or back matter, that expresses gratitude for the help an author received during the book’s publication.
Afterword: Closing remarks on the topic of the book or the process of writing the book. This material can be written by someone other than the author.
Appendix(es): Supplementary information at the end of a book, which can include tables and statistical information.
Glossary: This is a listing and definitions of terms that might be unfamiliar to the reader.
Bibliography: Most often seen in nonfiction like biography or in academic books, a bibliography lists the reference sources used in researching the book.
Index: An index is an optional but highly desirable element for nonfiction books. The index is placed at the end of the book and lists all the major references in the book (such as topics, names, places, and concepts) along with their specific, corresponding page numbers.