The presence and design of title pages evolved over the hand-press period. In the earliest years of printing, the title of a work was indicated with an “incipit” (from the Latin indicating “here begins”). Those turned into brief labels of the title printed on the first page of a work, and then to increasingly elaborate first pages that named the author, the book’s title, where it was printed, who the printers were, and when it was printed. Eventually elaborate title pages were protected by a preceding leaf which might be blank, have a brief title (a half-title page), or an illustration (a frontispiece).