Skip to Main Content

Chicago (17th ed.) Style Guide: Book Intro, Preface, Afterword

An introductory guide to creating notes and bibliography entries in accordance with the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style (2017).

 

 

NOTES ENTRY — Book Intro, Preface, Afterword

 

    USED FOR:

  • Citing an introduction, preface, foreword, afterword, etc. from a book.


    GUIDANCE:

The notes entry mirrors a normal notes entry for a book part, with variations depending on how many authors or editors there are. The key difference is that there is no title given for the book part. Instead you precede the book title with a generic lower-case phrase, as follows:

  • introduction to Book Title
  • preface to Book Title
  • foreword to Book Title
  • afterword to Book Title

If the author of the introduction (etc.) is not the book's author, or if the author of the introduction (etc.) is only one of the book's authors, then the book's author(s) must be identified. Do this by placing a comma after the book title, adding the word by, and then listing the book author name(s), as follows:

  • Sue Miller, introduction to Book Title, by John Smith
  • Sue Miller, preface to Book Title, by John Smith and Jane Jones
  • Sue Miller, afterword to Book Title, by John Smith, Jane Jones, and Robert Johnson


    EXAMPLES:

  1. Joseph Heller, preface to Catch-22 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996), 9. [preface written by the book's author]
  2. J. Allan Hobson, introduction to Dreaming: An Introduction to the Science of Sleep (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), ix-x. [introduction written by the book's author]
  3. Arthur Green, afterword to Hasidism: A New History, by David Biale, David Assaf, Benjamin Brown, Uriel Gellman, Samuel C. Heilman, Moshe Rosman, Gadi Sagiv, and Marcin Wodzinski (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 808. [afterword written by someone who is not one of the book's authors]
  4. Kathleen Sitzman, introduction to A History of American Nursing: Trends and Eras, by Deborah M. Judd, Kathleen Sitzman, and G. Megan Davis (Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2010), 3-4. [introduction written by one of the book's authors]
  5. Simon Gatrell, introduction to Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy, ed. Juliet Grindle and Simon Gatrell (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), xvii-xviii. [introduction written by someone who is not the book's author but who is one of the book's editors]
  6. Julius R. Krevans, preface to Extending Life, Enhancing Life: A National Research Agenda on Aging, ed. Edmund T. Lonergan (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1991), vii. [preface written by someone who is not the book's editor]
  7. Shaun McNiff, foreword to Art Therapy in Asia: To the Bone or Wrapped in Silk, ed. Debra Kalmanowitz, Jordan S. Potash, and Siu Mei Chan (London: Jessica Kingsley, 2012), 13. [foreword written by someone who is not one of the book's three editors]

 


 

SHORTENED NOTES ENTRY (REPEATED SOURCES) — Book Intro, Preface, Afterword

 

    EXAMPLES:

  1. Heller, preface, 9.
  2. Hobson, introduction, ix.
  3. Green, afterword, 810-11.
  4. Sitzman, introduction, 4-5.
  5. Gatrell, introduction, xix-xx.
  6. Krevans, preface, viii.
  7. McNiff, foreword, 14.

 


 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY — Book Intro, Preface, Afterword

 

    GUIDANCE:

The bibliography entry mirrors a normal bibliography entry for a book part, with variations depending on how many authors or editors there are. The word introduction (etc.) is capitalized because it follows a period. The page range follows the book title if no author name(s) follows the book title. If an author name(s) follow the book title, place the page range following the the name(s).


    EXAMPLES:

Heller, Joseph. Preface to Catch-22, 9-14. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996. [preface written by the book's author]

Hobson, J. Allan. Introduction to Dreaming: An Introduction to the Science of Sleep, ix-x. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. [introduction written by the book's author]

Green, Arthur. Afterword to Hasidism: A New History, by David Biale, David Assaf, Benjamin Brown, Uriel Gellman, Samuel C. Heilman, Moshe Rosman, Gadi Sagiv, and Marcin Wodzinski, 807-11. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018. [afterword written by someone who is not one of the book's authors] 

Sitzman, Kathleen. Introduction to A History of American Nursing: Trends and Eras, by Deborah M. Judd, Kathleen Sitzman, and G. Megan Davis, 1-7. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2010. [introduction written by one of the book's authors]

Gatrell, Simon. Introduction to Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy, edited by Juliet Grindle and Simon Gatrell, xiii-xxiv. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. [introduction written by someone who is not the book's author but who is one of the book's editors]

Krevans, Julius R. Preface to Extending Life, Enhancing Life: A National Research Agenda on Aging, edited by Edmund T. Lonergan, vii-ix. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1991. [preface written by someone who is not the book's editor]

McNiff, Shaun. Foreword to Art Therapy in Asia: To the Bone or Wrapped in Silk, edited by Debra Kalmanowitz, Jordan S. Potash, and Siu Mei Chan, 13-19. London: Jessica Kingsley, 2012. [foreword written by someone who is not one of the book's three editors]