Frontispiece

A frontispiece, in books, is "a decorative or informative illustration facing a book's title page, usually on the left-hand, or verso, page opposite the right-hand, or recto page of a book." Medieval illuminated manuscripts often used a presentation miniature showing the book being presented, and in the seventeenth century the title page "came to be accompanied by an illustration on the facing page." The subject varies: "in some ancient editions or in modern luxury editions the frontispiece features thematic or allegorical elements," and in others it is "the author's portrait that appears as the frontispiece."

For the self-publisher a frontispiece is an optional flourish with a fixed address: the verso page facing the title page, inside the front matter. It is the first image a reader meets; in a collected web serial edition, a key illustration or map there sets the tone before chapter one.