An illustration or decorative page at the front of a book facing the title page, or the principal front façade of a building.
From Old French 'frontispice,' from Latin 'frontis' (front) + 'specere' (to look at). Originally referred to an architectural facing; later applied to book illustrations.
Medieval and Renaissance books featured lavish frontispieces as status symbols—elaborate engravings proved you were literate enough to own a fancy book, so the frontispiece functioned both as decoration and as social currency.
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