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Norms and Conventions in the History of English
Edited by Birte Bös and Claudia Claridge
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 347] 2019
► pp. 73–98

Promotional conventions on English title-pages up to 1550

Modifiers of time, scope, and quality

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This study traces the development of promotional conventions on English title-pages up to 1550. The early development of title-pages was influenced by older paratextual elements such as prologues and colophons. However, in the context of print production, book producers soon began to use this prominent new space for advertising their skills and products. In terms of this marketing function, the early title-page can be compared to the publisher’s blurb. We examine how book producers promoted their work on title-pages and how the conventions related to this paratextual element developed in the early era of print. Our focus is on the modification of verbs and nouns describing books, texts, and the related production processes. Three main categories of modification emerge from our survey: time, scope, and quality. While the emerging conventions of title-page discourse share many features with modern advertising English, there are also features that seem surprising from the modern perspective.

Keywords: prescriptivism, advertising, book production, Early Modern English, paratext, promotional discourse, sixteenth century, title-page
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Promotional paratext and the early development of the title-page
  • 3.Advertising discourse
  • 4.The present study
  • 5.Modifiers of time, scope, and quality on early English title-pages
    • 5.1Modifiers of time
    • 5.2Modifiers of scope
    • 5.3Modifiers of quality
    • 5.4Overview of findings
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 27 May 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.347.05var
References

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Salmi, Hanna
2020. Chapter 8. “I write not to expert practitioners, but to learners”. In The Dynamics of Text and Framing Phenomena [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 317], ► pp. 187 ff. DOI logo
Varila, Mari-Liisa
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