preface

A preface ( /ˈprɛfɨs/ PREF-iss; adjectival form: "prefatory") is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface. The preface often closes with acknowledgements of those who assisted in the literary work.

A preface generally covers the story of how the book came into being, or how the idea for the book was developed; this is often followed by thanks and acknowledgments to people who were helpful to the author during the time of writing.

A preface is usually signed (and the date and place of writing often follow the typeset signature); a foreword by another person is always signed. Information essential to the main text is generally placed in a set of explanatory notes, or perhaps in an "Introduction" that may be paginated with Arabic numerals, rather than in the preface. The term preface can also mean any preliminary or introductory statement. It is sometimes abbreviated pref.

Similarly, a prologue is typically an introduction to a novel, fitting in with the genre and storyline of the main text, rather than a section in the author's voice. The term proem indicates an introductory discourse or preamble, either an introduction or preface.

Preface comes from the Latin, meaning either "spoken before" (prae + fatia) or "made before" (prae + factum). While the former source of the word could have preface meaning the same as prologue, the latter strongly implies an introduction written before the body of the book. With this meaning of stated intention, British publishing up to at least the middle of the twentieth century distinguished between preface and introduction.

Further reading

Look up preface or proem in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• A history of the preface in several languages is contained in: Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven. The Social Dimensions of Fiction: On the Rhetoric and Function of Prefacing Novels in the Nineteenth-Century Canadas. Braunschweig-Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher (Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn), 1993. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture.
• The difference between a preface, foreword, and introduction, patmcnees.com