Other forms: front matters
Everything in a book that comes before the story begins is its front matter. The title page and introduction are both part of a book's front matter.
If you get caught up reading the table of contents in your history textbook, you can say you're immersed in the front matter. Other parts of a book's front matter include the preface, copyright and publisher information, any dedication the author might have written, and acknowledgements, in which a writer thanks specific people for their help and support. The front matter's pages are usually unnumbered, with page one being the first of the book's actual narrative or story.