▪ I. frontispiece, n.
(ˈfrʌntɪspiːs)
Forms: 7 frontispice, -peece, (frontespice, frontice-piece, frontispeice), 6– frontispiece.
[a. Fr. frontispice, ad. med.L. frontispicium lit. ‘looking at the forehead’, metoposcopy, hence physiognomy, countenance, face or fa{cced}ade of a building, f. L. front(i)- (see front n.) + spicium, f. early Lat. specĕre to look. In English the spelling was very early assimilated to that of piece.]
1. The principal face or front of a building; ‘but the term is more usually applied to the decorated entrance of a building’ (Gwilt).
| 1597–8 Bp. Hall Sat. v. ii. 62 But if thou chance cast vp thy wondring eyes, Thou shalt descerne vpon the Frontispice, ουΔΕΙσ ΕΙσΙτΩ grauen vp on hye. 1630 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlem. (1641) 8 An indiscreet builder, who preferreth the care of his frontispice before the maine foundation. 1689 Burnet Tracts I. 45 The French King gives 10000 Livres for the Frontis-peice. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. vii. xcv. 440 The ornaments of the architecture, and the relievo in the frontispiece, are after the chinese and japan manner. 1797 Holcroft Stolberg's Trav. (ed. 2) II. lvi. 302 The temple..was of white marble. On the frontispiece was the..chariot of the Sun. 1855 Fergusson Handbk. Arch. II. 772 As a frontispiece..it [the three-gabled front of the Cathedral of Orvieto] is not without considerable appropriateness and even beauty. 1874 Symonds Italy & Greece 102 The fa{cced}ade [of the Cathedral of Orvieto] is a triumph of decorative art. It is strictly what Fergusson has styled a ‘frontispiece’; for it bears no relation whatever to the construction of the building. |
| transf. and fig. 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass i. (1664) 3 He had his celestial sentence..engraven on the frontispeece of his Heart. a 1678 Marvell Poems, Appleton House 23 A stately frontispiece of poor Adorns without the open door. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iii. xi. §20 Who is it has inform'd us, that a rational Soul can inhabit no Tenement, unless it has just such a sort of Frontispiece. 1728 Glover On Sir Isaac Newton 207 The ev'ning on the frontispiece of heav'n His mantle spreads with many colours gay. |
† b. The summit of a building. Obs. [So sometimes med.L. frontispicium.]
| 1600 Holland Livy x. xxiii. 368 The image of Jupiter..in the lanterne or frontispice [L. culmine] of the Capitoll. |
2. The pediment over a door, gate, etc. Also, a sculptured or engraved panel.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 580 The very frontispiece and maine lintle-tree which lay ouer the jambes or cheekes of the great dore of the said temple. 1637 Heywood Royal Ship 41 Upon the upright of the Upper Counter, standeth Victory, in the middle of a Frontispiece. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 506 A Kingly Palace Gate, With Frontispice of Diamond and Gold Embellisht. 1686 Burnet Trav. iii. (1750) 168 The great Dome is a magnificent Building, but the Frontis⁓piece to the great Gate is not yet made. 1819 Shelley To Peacock 25 Feb., Columns..supporting a perfect architrave, and two shattered frontispieces. 1850 J. Leitch tr. Müller's Anc. Art §109. 76 An Ionic portico on the outside, and on each side a Doric frontispiece. |
| fig. 1622 E. Misselden Free Trade (ed. 2) 2 When God himselfe setteth these duties in the frontispice or top of both the Tables of the Decalogue. |
† 3. The first page of a book or pamphlet, or what is printed on it; the title-page including illustrations and table of contents; hence, an introduction or preface. Obs.
| 1607 R. C. tr. H. Estienne's World of Wonders Ep. Ded., I could see none..fitter to be placed in the Frontispice of this worke..then your two Lordships. 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 226 In the Frontispice of Ina's laws, he saith he made them with the assent and help of his Bishops. 1618 Bolton Florus To Rdr., Hee figures the whole people of Rome, in the person of a Man (as the frontis⁓pice sheweth). 1646 Burgess in Presbyt. Rev. (1887) 317 This speech..a scoffing Remonstrant takes, and sets it forth odiously in the Frontispice of his Book. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. v. §1 A Declaration (which he caused to be printed, and, in the Frontispiece, recommended to the consideration of all his loving Subjects). 1712 Steele Spect. No. 296 ¶1 Your prefixing Greek Motto's to the Frontispiece of your late Papers. 1721 Bailey, Frontispiece..the Title or first Page of a Book done in Picture. |
| fig. c 1640 J. Smyth Lives Berkeleys (1883) II. 409 His face was the frontispice of his mind; he knew not how to dissemble a thought. 1651 Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year i. v. 57 Godly sorrow is but the frontispiece or title page. 1673 Lady's Call. i. ii. 12 Nature..never meant a serene and clear forehead should be the frontispiece to a cloudy tempestuous heart. 1704 S. Wesley Def. Let. conc. Educ. Dissenters 23 Stephen Marshall, the very Frontispiece of Smectimnuus. |
4. An illustration facing the title-page of a book or division of a book. (The current sense.)
The ‘Frontis-piece’ of the first quot. faces the title-page.
| 1682 Lithgow's Trav. iii. 120 And lo in the Frontis-piece is my Effigies affixed with my Turkish habit..even as I travelled. 1748 Lady Luxborough Lett. to Shenstone 28 May, I grudge six shillings for Herveys Meditations..but I want to see the frontispieces. 1753 Gray Let. Poems (1775) 225 If I had received such a book, with such a frontispiece..it would have given me a palsy. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 368 The engraving which forms the frontispiece to this volume..is illustrative of this accident. 1878 H. H. Gibbs Ombre 8 One of them appears in the Frontispiece which is taken from Seymour's ‘Compleat Gamester’. |
| fig. 1691 J. Wilson Belphegor i. ii, In a word, a thing made up of so many several parishes, that you'd have taken him at first sight for a frontispiece of the resurrection. |
5. The front piece or forepart of anything. a. The face or forehead. Chiefly jocular.
| a 1625 Grobian's Nuptialls, MS. Bodl. 30, lf. 17 a, That fayre frontispeece of yours. 1754 Hume Hist. Eng. (1761) I. i. 26 It were a pity that..so beautiful a frontispiece should cover a mind destitute of internal grace. 1772 Nugent tr. Hist. Fr. Gerund i. iv. 120 A smart little father, with a bit of toupet on his frontispiece. 1821 Sporting Mag. VIII. 233 Hammering his frontispiece to the appearance of a pudding-stone. 1872 Browning Fifine xcv, No face-shape, beast or bird..but some one had preferred From out its frontispiece..To make the vizard whence himself should view the world. |
† b. In a theatre: The front scenery; also, the forepart of the stage. Obs.
| 1651 J. Wilson Astræa A viij, The Shepherdess avanceth to the Frontispiece of the Scene. 1667 Davenant & Dryden Tempest i. i, The curtain rises, and discovers a new frontis⁓piece, joined to the great pilasters. |
▪ II. frontispiece, v.
(ˈfrʌntɪspiːs)
[f. prec. n.]
trans. a. To furnish with as a frontispiece (senses 3, 4), put a frontispiece to. b. To represent on the frontispiece. c. To put as a frontispiece.
| 1715 M. Davies Athen. Brit. I. Pref. 12 Those two Clementin Epistles..wherewith..Cotelerius frontispiec'd his Collection of Apostolick Remains. 1716 Ibid. II. 297 His insolent Sermon, Sawcily frontispiec'd, Non-Resistance without Priestcraft, &c. c 1821 Byron in Dowden Shelley (1887) II. 364, I have advised him to frontispiece his book with his own head, Capo di Traditore, the head of a traitor. 1831 Fraser's Mag. III. 201 [He] is frontispieced most abominably, in a sort of caricature of the Freischutz. 1836 Ibid. XIII. 34 Poole's Sketches..are frontispieced with an engraving. 1894 Speaker 19 May 560/2 Let him frontispiece a good map. |
Hence ˈfrontispiecer, one who supplies a frontispiece.
| 1828 Lamb Let. to Barton 5 Dec., I esteem thy verses..honour thy frontispicer, and..reverence thy..dedicatee. |