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A preface (/ ˈ p r ɛ f ə s /) or proem (/ ˈ p r oʊ ɛ m /) 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 [contradictory] and precedes an author's preface. The preface often closes with acknowledgments of those who assisted in the literary ...
The Ancient Greek word πρόλογος includes the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance, more like the meaning of preface. The importance, therefore, of the prologue in Greek drama was very great; it sometimes almost took the place of a romance, to which, or to an episode in which, the play itself succeeded.
Information essential to the main text is generally placed in a set of explanatory notes, or perhaps in an introduction, rather than in the foreword or like preface. The pages containing the foreword and preface (and other front matter) are typically not numbered as part of the main work, which usually uses Arabic numerals.
In a book of technical writing, the introduction may include one or more standard subsections: abstract or summary, preface, acknowledgments, and foreword. Alternatively, the section labeled introduction itself may be a brief section found along with abstract, foreword, etc. (rather than containing them).
The epigraph may serve as a preface to the work; as a summary; as a counter-example; or as a link from the work to a wider literary canon, [2] with the purpose of either inviting comparison or enlisting a conventional context. [3] A book may have an overall epigraph that is part of the front matter, or one for each chapter.
The opposite is a prologue—a piece of writing at the beginning of a work of literature or drama, usually used to open the story and capture interest. [2] Some genres, for example television programs and video games, call the epilogue an "outro" patterned on the use of "intro" for "introduction".
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Within an English-language book, the table of contents usually appears after the title page, copyright notices, and, in technical journals, the abstract; and before any lists of tables or figures, the foreword, and the preface. Printed tables of contents indicate page numbers where each part starts, while digital ones offer links to go to each ...