Foreword
Encyclopedia
A foreword is a piece of writing sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature
. Written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the writer of the foreword and the book's primary author or the story the book tells. Later editions of a book sometimes have a new foreword prepended (appearing before an older foreword if there was one), which might explain in what respects that edition differs from previous ones.
The foreword is sometimes confused with the preface
, which is written by the author of the book and generally covers the story of how the book came into being or how the idea for the book was developed, and may include thanks and acknowledgments to people who were helpful to the author during the time of writing. Unlike a preface, a foreword is always signed.
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 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
. If the front matter is paginated, it uses lowercase Roman numerals
. If there is both a foreword and a preface, the foreword appears first; both appear before the introduction, which may be paginated either with the front matter or the main text.
The word foreword was first used around the mid-19th century (originally used as a term in philology
). It was possibly a translation of the Dutch "voorwoord".
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
. Written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the writer of the foreword and the book's primary author or the story the book tells. Later editions of a book sometimes have a new foreword prepended (appearing before an older foreword if there was one), which might explain in what respects that edition differs from previous ones.
The foreword is sometimes confused with the preface
Preface
A preface 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...
, which is written by the author of the book and generally covers the story of how the book came into being or how the idea for the book was developed, and may include thanks and acknowledgments to people who were helpful to the author during the time of writing. Unlike a preface, a foreword is always signed.
Information essential to the main text is generally placed in a set of explanatory notes, or perhaps in an introduction
Introduction (essay)
An introduction is a beginning section which states the purpose and goals of the following writing. The introduction is usually interesting and it intrigues the reader and causes him or her to want to read on. The sentence in which the introduction begins can be a question or just a statement...
, rather than in the foreword or 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
Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals or Hindu numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals or Indo-Arabic numerals are the ten digits . They are descended from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed by Indian mathematicians, in which a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a numeral...
. If the front matter is paginated, it uses lowercase Roman numerals
Roman numerals
The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
. If there is both a foreword and a preface, the foreword appears first; both appear before the introduction, which may be paginated either with the front matter or the main text.
The word foreword was first used around the mid-19th century (originally used as a term in philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
). It was possibly a translation of the Dutch "voorwoord".
See also
- AfterwordAfterwordAn afterword is a literary device that is often found at the end of a piece of literature. It generally covers the story of how the book came into being, or of how the idea for the book was developed....
- See The difference between a preface, foreword, and introduction on patmcnees.com this is in a magazine or at the start of a book