A colophon is a short note describing how a book was made, most often naming the typeface it is set in and something about its designer or origin. In modern books it sits at the very back, after the index. The word also has a second, unrelated modern sense: a publisher's logo on the title page.
It is entirely optional. No style authority requires one, and most books do not have one.
What a Colophon Contains
The typical modern colophon is a paragraph naming:
- the typeface, often with a note on who cut it and when
- occasionally the paper, the printer, or the binding method
- sometimes the book designer
It is the one place in a book that talks about the book as a physical object rather than about its contents. That is what distinguishes it from every other back matter element: an appendix, glossary or bibliography supports the text, while a colophon describes the artefact.
Where It Goes
At the back, among the last items in the book. The Chicago Manual of Style places it in back matter, after the index, alongside the small set of trade afterpieces: a reading group guide, a biographical note, the colophon, and any errata. Both the 17th and 18th editions keep it in that position, as Chicago's own chapter on the parts of a book shows, so this has been stable across editions.
This trips people up because of the historical meaning, which was the opposite.
The Historical Sense
Before title pages existed, the colophon did their job. Early printed books carried the identifying information at the end: who printed the book, where, and when. The title page as we know it developed later and gradually absorbed that function, leaving the colophon as a vestige that survives mainly in fine printing and in books where the production is part of the appeal.
So a colophon at the back of a modern book is not a stylistic affectation. It is the older convention, still in its original position, now reduced to the typographic note.
The Other Meaning
Confusingly, "colophon" also means a publisher's emblem or logo, the small device on the title page or spine. New Hart's Rules lists a "logo/colophon" among the things that may appear on a title page.
These two senses are unrelated in practice. If someone asks whether your book has a colophon, they may mean either, so it is worth asking which.
Doing This in Deckle
Deckle has no colophon page type. The Binder's Back Matter menu offers About the Author, Acknowledgments, Also by the Author, Coming Next, Book Club Questions and Glossary, and the Front Matter menu offers seven types, none of which is a colophon.
If you want one, add an ordinary document as the last item in your Draft folder and type the note into it. Because Binder order is book order, placing it last is all that is required. It will number in arabic numerals along with the rest of the back matter.
There is one thing to check. Deckle's chapter styling applies a heading and a sink to ordinary documents. A colophon is conventionally set quietly, without a chapter-style heading, so turn the document's heading off if you do not want one.
Common Mistakes
- Putting a colophon in the front matter because the historical one went at the end of the text. In a modern book, the back is correct, and the front is where its descendant, the title page, now lives.
- Confusing the two meanings. The production note and the publisher's logo share a name and nothing else.
- Treating it as required. No authority asks for one. It is a flourish, appropriate to books where the physical production is worth remarking on.
- Giving it a chapter heading. It is conventionally set as a quiet closing note.
- Putting it before the index. Among the reference apparatus the index comes last, and the colophon follows it.
FAQ
Q: Does a self-published novel need a colophon? A: No. It is optional in any book and rare in commercial fiction. It suits a book where the typography or production is part of the point.
Q: What is the difference between a colophon and a copyright page? A: The copyright page carries legal and cataloguing information at the front. A colophon carries production and typographic information at the back. The copyright page is expected in every book; the colophon is not.
Q: What should a colophon actually say? A: Most name the typeface and add a sentence about it. Some add the paper or printer. There is no prescribed wording.
Q: Is the publisher's logo really called a colophon? A: Yes, that usage is standard, and New Hart's Rules lists it as an element that may appear on the title page. It is a genuine second meaning rather than a mistake.
Q: Does a colophon go in an ebook? A: It can, though it has less purpose there. A note about the typeface is odd in a reflowable file where the reader chooses the font.