Help:Front matter

What is front matter

Front matter, or preliminaries ("prelims", for short), is the first section of a book, and is usually the smallest section in terms of the number of pages. The pages are numbered in lower-case Roman numerals. Each page is counted; but no folio or page number is expressed, or printed, on either display pages, or blank pages.

Front matter will usually include a title page, a copyright page (known as a colophon), a table of contents, and may include a list of illustrations, and any acknowledgements, prefaces or forewords. It may include items such as a frontispiece and a half-title page. For Wikisource purposes, a book's cover may be considered part of the front matter.

Front matter on Wikisource

Front matter should be included in a Wikisource work. It should be proofread as normal from a scan and transcluded into the main namespace. Front matter is often transcluded into the base page while the body matter, the main part of a work, is transcluded into subpages. Sometimes some or all of the front matter is transcluded into subpages instead.

For example: The title page and table of contents of a novel will be shown in My Book, chapter one of the novel will be shown in My Book/Chapter 1, chapter two of the novel will be shown in My Book/Chapter 2, etc.. All of the front matter could be shown in My Book or in My Book/Front matter. If there is a long section of front matter, it could be shown in a separate subpage, eg. My Book/Preface, regardless of where the rest of the front matter is shown.