Tryal of Richard Francklin, 1731 (A1r)
![The 1731 imprint date suggests that the publication of this chapbook followed almost immediately after the conclusion of the December 3, 1731 trial. Chapbooks like these---small unbound pamphlets---were a prime source of news as well as entertainment.](https://www.earlyprintedbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/117804601.30-477x800.jpg)
Vincent, Discouerie, 1622 (π1r)
![The title page of this work is a bit confusing, and lengthy, because it first names the author of the work in which mistakes have been discovered, before naming the author of this work.](https://www.earlyprintedbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/discouerieoferro00vinc_0007-494x800.jpg)
Whole Booke of Psalmes, 1640 (*1r)
![The Bay Psalm Book, as this work is known, is the first book printed in British North America.](https://www.earlyprintedbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/nypl_bay-psalm_Jdk_X9VST0C1o8E0S3DDxAd-775x800.jpg)
Wroth, Urania, 1621 (A1r)
![This title page for Wroth's prose romance is entirely engraved, from the illustration to the title above and the imprint statement below. At the very bottom of the page, on the left, is the engraver's name, "Sim. Passaeus, sculp:"](https://www.earlyprintedbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Wroth_Urania_tp-600x800.jpg)
Zumárraga, Doctrina breve, 1544 (a1r)
![This title page uses woodcut blocks and pieces of type to create decorative borders surrounding the text presenting the work's title and imprint. Doctrina breve is the first complete work printed in North America, and was printed using type, blocks, and press were brought over to Mexico City from Spain.](https://www.earlyprintedbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/42727609-575x800.jpg)
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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).