A foreword is written by someone other than the author, recommending the book. A preface is written by the author, about the book as a book. A prologue is part of the story itself. The first two are front matter in roman numerals; the third is text, in arabic numerals starting at page 1.
The test that settles almost every case: is the reader inside the story, being told about the book, or being recommended it by a third party?
The Comparison
| Foreword | Preface | Introduction | Prologue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written by | Someone other than the author | The author | The author | The author |
| About | Why this book matters | How and why the book was made | The subject itself | Nothing, it is story |
| Division | Front matter | Front matter | Text, normally | Text |
| Numbering | Roman | Roman | Arabic, from page 1 | Arabic, from page 1 |
| Signed | Yes, by name | Optional | No | No |
Yale University Press states the foreword rule plainly: it "is written by someone other than the author or editor, usually a recognized authority in the area the book covers, and introduces the book to its audience." New Hart's Rules agrees, calling it "a recommendation of the work written by someone other than the author", whose writer "is usually named at the end of the piece, or in its title, and in the contents list."
The Chicago Manual of Style gives the operational marker for all of this in its Q&A: "Any piece not written by the author of the book should have either a byline at the beginning or a signature at the end." If it needs a name on it, it is a foreword.
The Preface Is About the Book, Not the Subject
This is the distinction people collapse most often, and Yale's guidance is the clearest statement of it anywhere:
"The preface is neither an integral part of the text nor a vehicle for exposition or lengthy discussion. It should not require more than two printed pages (three manuscript pages). It is entirely different from a foreword or an introduction and cannot replace or be replaced by either."
"The preface is about the book as a book, not about the subject matter. It informs readers and reviewers of the aims and purposes of the book and the audience for whom it is intended."
Note the length rule, which is the only hard number any authority gives on this page: not more than two printed pages.
New Hart's Rules adds the variants: a multi-author work may carry an "Editor's preface", a series may carry a "Series editor's preface", and successive editions each get their own, titled accordingly. Where earlier prefaces are reprinted, they follow the current one in reverse order: preface to the paperback edition, then to the second edition, then to the first.
Where the Prologue Actually Goes
Here the authorities are quiet in an informative way. The Chicago Manual of Style has no entry for "prologue". Its index simply redirects: "prologues. See introductions." New Hart's Rules never uses the word at all.
What they do say about introductions settles the question. New Hart's Rules:
"The introduction is properly part of the text of the book (except in special contexts such as editions of literary texts, where the editor's introduction forms part of the prelims). The Arabic pagination begins with the first page of the introduction, which therefore must fall on a recto."
Yale gives the test in one sentence: "if the reader must read the introduction in order to understand the rest of the book, the introduction does not belong in the front matter."
So a narrative prologue is part of the text. It carries arabic numbering beginning at page 1, and it opens on a right-hand page. It is not front matter, and it is not numbered in roman numerals. New Hart's Rules explicitly permits either treatment for its heading: it "may be treated (and numbered) as the first chapter of the work, or it may be headed simply Introduction", and when it addresses the work as a whole "it is usually left unnumbered."
The only case where an introductory piece belongs in roman-numbered front matter is a scholar's or editor's introduction about the work rather than part of it, which is Hart's "editions of literary texts" exception.
Three Claims That Are Not Supported
"A prologue is front matter." No authority says so. Chicago folds prologues into introductions, and both Chicago and Hart's place the ordinary introduction in the text.
"A prologue is numbered in roman numerals." It takes arabic numbering from page 1, for the same reason. See why front matter uses roman numerals.
"A foreword can be written by the author." Contradicted by both Yale and New Hart's Rules. If you wrote it yourself, it is a preface.
Symmetry at the Other End
The same logic runs in reverse at the back of the book. New Hart's Rules: "An epilogue or an author's note is nothing more than a short concluding comment on the text. An afterword is much the same, though it is typically written by someone other than the author."
So prologue pairs with epilogue (author, story), and foreword pairs with afterword (someone else, commentary). That symmetry is a reliable way to remember which is which, though be aware the afterword half of it is weaker than it sounds, as covered in epilogue vs afterword.
What Deckle Does
Deckle's Front Matter menu offers Foreword and Preface as document types, alongside Title Page, Copyright, Dedication, Epigraph and Table of Contents. Both are created as ordinary documents you write into, and both are treated as front matter, so they take roman numerals when restart numbering at Chapter One is on.
There is no Prologue type, and that is correct rather than an omission. A prologue is a chapter: create it as one, title it "Prologue", and it starts the arabic sequence and opens on a recto exactly as chapter one would. Turn off chapter numbering for that document so the heading reads "Prologue" rather than "Chapter 1".
The practical consequence worth knowing: where you put the document in the Binder determines its numbering. A prologue placed above the front matter boundary would be numbered in roman, which is wrong. Keep it below, with the chapters.
For the full sequence, see ordering front matter and back matter and what is front matter in a book.
Common Mistakes
- Calling your own introduction a foreword. A foreword is by someone else, and it should carry their name.
- Writing a four-page preface. Yale caps it at two printed pages.
- Putting the prologue in the front matter. It is text, and it starts the arabic numbering.
- Using a preface to summarise the plot. The preface is about the book, not its contents.
- Having a foreword with no byline. Chicago's marker for non-authorial matter is a byline or signature.
- Both a prologue and a preface in a novel. Legal, but ask whether the preface is earning its place.
FAQ
Q: Can a novel have a foreword? A: Yes, usually in a reissue or a classic, written by a critic or another novelist.
Q: Does the prologue count as chapter one? A: It can be numbered as chapter one or left unnumbered. Both are permitted.
Q: Preface or introduction? A: Preface if it is about writing the book. Introduction if it is the beginning of the argument.
Q: Who signs a preface? A: Optional. Yale says the preface "need not be signed". A foreword always carries a name.
Q: What page does the prologue start on? A: A right-hand page, with arabic page 1, since it begins the text.