The Title-Page: Its Early Development 1460-1510

The late medieval manuscript's opening page was often ornamentally magnificent; however, this approach of announcing a text was not to be the title-page model for the printed book. The introduction of the printing press created the opportunity for a new way to open a book - a page devoted to its title and its producer. Several stages of the title page's development are described.

In detail here, with illustrations from the British Library: the blank page, the label-title, the label-title- plus-woodcut and/or printer's mark, and the decorative border. This is the first book dealing with the early development of the title page since A.W. Pollard's "Last Words" on the subject, published in 1981. Co-published with The British Library.