Title (publishing)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The title of a book, or any other published text or work of art, is a name for the work which is usually chosen by the author. A title can be used to identify the work, to put it in context, to convey a minimal summary of its contents, and to pique the reader's curiosity.

Some works supplement the title with a

long title. In library cataloging, a uniform title
is assigned to a work whose title is ambiguous.

In

spine, the front cover, and the title page
.

History

The first books, such as the Five Books of Moses, in Hebrew

Leviticus). The concept of a title is a step in the development of the modern book.[1]

In

Odysseia (Odyssey) that of Odysseus (Ulysses). The first history book in the modern sense, Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War
, had no more title than Historiai (Histories or Stories).

When books take the form of a scroll or roll, as in the case of the

Torah or the Five Megillot
, it is impractical to single out an initial page. The first page, rolled up, would not be fully visible unless unrolled. For that reason, scrolls are marked with external identifying decorations.

Very long title of a pamphlet, 1838

A book with pages is not a scroll, but a

binding
on one edge. Codices (plural of "codex") are much more recent than scrolls, and replaced them because codices are easier to use. The title "page" is a consequence of a bound book having pages. Until books had covers (another development in the history of the book), the top page was highly visible. To make the content of the book easy to ascertain, there came the custom of printing on the top page a title, a few words in larger letters than the body, and thus readable from a greater distance.

As the book evolved, most books became the product of an author. Early books, like those of the Old Testament, did not have authors. Gradually the concept took hold—Homer is a complicated case—but authorship of books, all of which were or were believed to be non-fiction, was not the same as, since the Western Renaissance, writing a novel. The concept of intellectual property did not exist; copying another person's work was once praiseworthy. The invention of printing changed the economics of the book, making it possible for the owner of a manuscript to make money selling printed copies. The concept of authorship became much more important. The name of the author would also go on the title page.

Gradually more and more information was added to the title page: the location printed, the printer, at later dates the publisher, and the date. Sometimes a book's title continued at length, becoming an advertisement for the book which a possible purchaser would see in a bookshop (see example).

Typographical conventions

Most English-language style guides, including the Chicago Manual of Style, the

Underlining
is used where italics are not possible, such as on a typewriter or in handwriting.

Titles may also be written in title case, with most or all words capitalized. This is true both when the title is written in or on the work in question, and when mentioned in other writing. The original author or publisher may deviate from this for stylistic purposes, and other publications might or might not replicate the original capitalization when mentioning the work. Quotes, italics, and underlines are generally not used in the title on the work itself.[4]

See also

  • Headline – Text at the top of a newspaper article

References

  1. JSTOR 3724776
    .
  2. ^ "Do You Underline Book Titles?". May 29, 2012.
  3. Purdue OWL
    . March 1, 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  4. ^ "Which Titles Are Italicized and Which Are Enclosed in Quotation Marks?".

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Title_(publishing)&oldid=1199139920"