Who Proofreads Prelims?
The pages of a book which precede the first chapter (if it has chapters) are called the prelims. Maybe you have not given them too much thought, but if you are proofreading it is vital that they are read very thoroughly. An oversight on page 312 may go unnoticed, but a howler in the prelims will be picked up very quickly by the author and publisher. (Why page 312? My research shows that it is the commonest page on which errors occur in books of that length!)
What are the Prelims?
Half Title Page
Traditionally this is the first page of a book after any blank endpapers.
It is on a right hand page (recto) and carries only the title of the book. If the book has a subtitle that is not included.
It used to be called the bastard title.
Why have it? Well, there is no practical reason; it is simply traditional. Some publishers now omit it which is rather a shame. Originally, when piles of flat stock lay on dusty floors in printers’ warehouses waiting to be bound it was a useful marker of what was in the pile.
Half Title Verso
The reverse of the half title page. This is traditionally left blank. This may have been because a grubby half title might be discarded by the printer.
Title Page
This bears the full title of the book, the author’s name and the name of the publisher.
It is always on the recto after the title verso (or should be!).
If a proofreader misses an error on the title page it would be hard to get a reference!
Title Verso
The reverse of the title page. This is also called the business page because it sets out the full details of the publisher, copyright, reservation of rights and publication data including the book’s ISBN (International Standard Book Number) and information about the printer and sometimes the designer.
Needless to say, mistakes or oversights on this page are capital offences.
Dedication
An author may dedicate a book to anyone or anything.
Foreword
A foreword is a piece, often excessively long, written by someone other than the author. It is either an article introducing the subject-matter of the book with some praise for the author or a diatribe about the expertise of the writer of the foreword. In the latter case there’s not a lot the publisher or author can do about it, having commissioned the foreword as a favour possibly to give credibility to the book. (It helps to give a strict word limit when commissioning it.)
Preface
This is written by the author and serves as an introduction to the book, perhaps outlining its purpose and how it came to be written. Again prefaces tend to be too long and rather worthy, but are often essential particularly for academic titles and serious non-fiction. (“Serious non-fiction”? Yes, I agree. How do I define that?)
Acknowledgements
There are two types of acknowledgements: those which are polite and those which are legally required.
Polite ones are directed at anyone who has helped the author in any way.
Legal ones are acknowledgements of copyright sources and permissions obtained. The author and publisher should have dealt with all this before it reaches the copy-editor or proofreader, of course.
Contents
There are many ways of setting out a book’s contents. But, however they are organised, it is usually the proofreader’s job to check that the page numbers match the pages in the book. Things can easily go awry when there are several sets of proofs!
In a standard work the contents are followed by the text. But, particularly in academic books there may be several other additions to the prelims such as lists of abbreviations and contributors. An introduction may immediately precede the text but is usually not regarded as part of the prelims.
Prelims are numbered in roman numerals whereas the text is in arabic numerals.
Proofreaders often receive the prelims quite late. The preface and foreword sometimes limp in at the last moment and contents are often revised. Never skimp them; always remember that your reputation as a proofreader depends on error-free prelims.