frontispiece

[fruhn-tis-pees, fron-] /ˈfrʌn tɪsˌpis, ˈfrɒn-/
noun
1.
an illustrated leaf preceding the title page of a book.
2.
Architecture. a façade, or a part or feature of a façade, often highlighted by ornamentation.
Origin
1590-1600; alteration (conformed to piece) of earlier frontispice < French < Medieval Latin frontispicium, equivalent to Latin fronti- front + -spicium (combining form representing specere to look at)
Examples from the web for frontispiece
  • He used an engraving of himself in laborer's clothes as the frontispiece.
  • They are of wood, but the remainder of the niche and frontispiece are of plaster.
  • Several seventeenth-century editions of her works used engravings based on this painting as a frontispiece.
British Dictionary definitions for frontispiece

frontispiece

/ˈfrʌntɪsˌpiːs/
noun
1.
an illustration facing the title page of a book
2.
the principal façade of a building; front
3.
a pediment, esp an ornamented one, over a door, window, etc
Word Origin
C16 frontispice, from French, from Late Latin frontispicium façade, inspection of the forehead, from Latin frōns forehead + specere to look at; influenced by piece
Word Origin and History for frontispiece
n.

1590s, "decorated entrance of a building," from Middle French frontispice, probably from Italian frontespizio and Late Latin frontispicium "facade," originally "a view of the forehead, judgment of character through facial features," from Latin frons (genitive frontis) "forehead" (see front (n.)) + specere "to look at" (see scope (n.1)). Sense of "illustration facing a book's title page" first recorded 1680s. The spelling alteration is apparently from confusion with piece.