DISPOSABLE ELEMENTS? INDICATIONS OF GENRE IN EARLY MODERN TITLES.

The marks of elite forms such as the ode or the tragedy are retained when a title is cited. Historians of the book have considered every marginal element of the early modern title-page: typeface and compositors' marks; printers' scrollwork and frontispiece design; authors' names and imprint. When it comes to the self-descriptions of vernacular prose, however, we casually dispose of such tags as 'A grand reproof…', 'A pious remonstrance…', 'A quiet rebuke…'. This essay argues that title-page markers of this kind have generic force, and that we would do well to acknowledge a taxonomy of subgenres not recognized before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]