caption title ☜☞ título de partida


The expressions "caption title" and "drop-head title" have special meaning when describing printed plays of this period.  

In addition to the proper title of the play, Spanish dramatic works typically carried an additional heading that described the type of play the audience could expect: Comedia Famosa, Comedia Nueva, Comedia Burlesca, Tragedia, Saynete. The co-existence of the real title and the "epithet," at the top of the first page has lead to some confusion in cataloguing. 

The Oxford Companion to the Book defines “caption title” (also called drop-head title) as the title above a chapter, section, article, or the title beginning a work without a title page; this would be the title of the work itself. The last part of the definition is what best applies to comedias sueltas: they occupied the top third of the first page, followed by the dramatis personae, stage directions and the beginning of the text. Full title pages in the modern sense of displaying only author, title, and imprint information, but not the dramatis personae, stage directions or text of the play, were a later development. 

In trying to distinguish between the real title and the epithet, cataloguers have made a distinction by designating the latter as “caption title” and entering that information in the General Notes field of the record.

There were no rules governing the placement of the play title in relation to the epithet. The design of the title page was up to the printer, but it is good to keep in mind that sueltas were sold in shops and book stalls, draped on a string (see entry for cordel literature / literatura de cordel in Miscellanies) with the first page in full view. One of the ways printers meant to catch buyers’ attention was with generic titles that arouse interest in the play.


See also:
drop-head title
display type and decorative type
  • An example of the caption title: Comedia famosa.

    El águila de la iglesia, San Agustín

    [New York Public Library]

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