The pages at the beginning of a book before the main text, including the title page, copyright page, dedication, and table of contents.
Front matter is everything that appears in a book before Chapter One. This includes the half-title page, title page, copyright page, dedication, epigraph, table of contents, foreword, preface, and acknowledgments (when placed at the front). These pages are typically numbered with lowercase Roman numerals (i, ii, iii) rather than standard page numbers. Front matter establishes the book's identity and legal information before the story begins.
Front matter sets the tone before your reader hits the first sentence of your story. A well-chosen epigraph can prime the reader's expectations. A dedication can create an emotional connection. And the copyright page, while not glamorous, protects your legal rights. Getting front matter right signals professionalism, especially in self-publishing where sloppy or missing front matter immediately marks a book as amateur.
The dedication and epigraph (a passage in Latin and Greek about the Sibyl who wished for death) set the tone for the entire work before a single line of the poem.
The dedication pages became a running narrative thread across the series, with each book's dedication hinting at the overarching mystery. Front matter as storytelling.
The front matter includes multiple layers of fictional editorial apparatus, blurring the line between the book as object and the book as narrative.
Open five books on your shelf and examine their front matter page by page. Make a list of every element you find, from half-title to the start of Chapter One. Notice the order and which elements are consistent across books. Then draft the front matter sequence for your own project, including a dedication and an epigraph that sets the mood for your story.