If you open the book to the title page (ignoring the cover for the moment), that one page can give you some of the most important evidence about how this book has been published. The wording, the layout, the names, and the imprint may help you tell one edition or printing from another, particularly if you have two copies whose outside looks very similar.
Start by reading the title as it is written. Look for subtitles, volumes, editors or translators, edition statements, etc. Be sure to pay attention to phrases like “revised edition,” “third edition,” “new edition.” This doesn’t necessarily mean the book is in a different edition, but it could. The title page isn’t the entire story of the book’s publication.
Look at the bottom of the page. Often the publisher, place of publication, and date are there, perhaps presented as an imprint. Check the copyright page or colophon (if it’s there). Matching details will make the task of describing the book easier; conflicting details should alert you to the need for further investigation. A title page dated one year and a copyright page that lists multiple printings is one way to remind yourself that the date of publication could refer to different things.
Here’s a quick exercise: take three regular books off your bookshelf. On a blank sheet of paper, write down all the information on the title page. Don’t add anything from the cover, a library or bookshop catalog, or from memory. Write down the title, people named as authors/editors/ translators/publishers, place of publication, date, edition statement. Then check the copyright page and write down what you learn from it. You’ll probably be able to tell immediately which information came from which source.
New readers might think that only the words matter and that the layout of those words on the page can be ignored. But the size of the title, the font used for certain names, ornaments and emblems, the size of the logo of the publisher, the amount of space between certain words, and the overall layout (centered or not) can all be significant. As you’re learning to read a title page, keep an eye out for layout, too. It will help you distinguish between two different editions even before you know why they are different.
With older books, things can get complicated. The wording might be unusual, places of publication might be called by their old names, dates might be in Roman numerals, and the book might not include everything that you expect to see. Don’t fill in the blanks based on what you think you’ve seen before. Write down what the title page says. Make a note that you don’t know something so you can find out later.
The point is, your description of the title page should be enough for another person to know what you saw. If you’re able to figure out the publication details, note significant wording and layout, and compare them to other information in the book, then you are using the title page as a bibliological resource rather than just as a prelude to the first chapter.
