This term has had various meanings at different times and contexts, ranging from the façade of a building in architecture to a broad term for whatever “fronts” a book, such as the first page of text of a manuscript, an engraved title page, or a highly decorated first page of text or first double-page spread.

In later printed books, the frontispiece is typically a full-page illustration on the verso page facing the title page, although sometimes it appears on the recto before the title page.