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Glite Dictionary
frontis

frontis

1 9.9
A picture that faces the title page of a book
  • noun
  • /ˈfrʌntɪs/
  • Archaic
translation icon : frontispicio
  • A beautiful frontis can make a rare edition even more special to bibliophiles.

Examples

  • Collectors often value books with the original frontis still intact.

  • The frontis of the old novel featured a detailed engraving of the main character.

  • The book had a beautiful frontis depicting a castle.

  • Many old novels feature a frontis that sets the tone.

  • The book included a beautiful frontis that captured the essence of the story.

  • As soon as I opened the old novel, I was delighted to see the intricate frontis illustration.

  • The publisher had a stunning frontis designed to draw readers in before they reached the text.

Synonyms

frontispiece
vsfrontis
  • Specialized
1 9.8

A picture on the page facing a book's title page

is associated mainly with older publications rather than modern ones

Surface Forms

frontis singular
frontes plural

Morphology

frontis = frontispiece (semi-transparent) = front + piece

The term is a clipped form of 'frontispiece'; the relation to 'front' + 'piece' is visible but the meaning is specialized and book-terminology-specific.

Etymology

The word frontis comes from Latin frontis meaning 'forehead' or 'front', and it is the same root as the English word front and the longer word frontispiece. So a frontis is like the book's 'face', an image placed at the front facing the title page.