The etymological origin of the term colophon is found in Latin, exactly in the word "colophon." However, this in turn derives from the Greek "kolophon", which can be translated as "summit" or "crowning of something."
The Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) indicates as the first meaning of the concept the annotation that is made at the end of a book , indicating the date and place of printing and other data linked to the publication.
The colophon usually appears on the last page of the books. Its purpose is to record who the printer was, where and when he did his work , what the print run of the work was, etc. An example of a colophon is the following: «This edition was finished printing in April 1975 at Ediciones Brillantes SA, Avenida Real No. 4612, City of Madrid, Spain» .
It is important to know the history of the colophon. And the researchers have been able to determine that this was already part of a book in its origins, which are found in Mesopotamia. However, over the centuries it has not had a single function but has basically had two clearly defined tasks:
-The first was and is to provide additional information about the work in question. Thus, for almost 3,000 years, this has been its main task, especially in times when books did not have a front or back cover to provide these valuable data.
-The second was and still is to offer the reader information regarding the printer who was in charge of carrying out the physical production of the work in question.
We would have to wait until 1621 for the colophon to begin to be used in England as we understand it today.
Another very interesting fact regarding the colophon is that the first book that was published in Spain with that element as an important part was "Manipulus Curatorum." It was in the year 1475 that this work saw the light of day and was printed by Mateo Flandro in the lands of Aragon.
Another use of the notion is linked to the completion of an event , a process or a stage . The colophon, in this sense, represents the conclusion or closure of something .
Suppose that the last activity of a cardiology congress consists of a conference by a prestigious German doctor, who analyzes various advances that have been achieved in his specialty. It can be said that this conference was the culmination of the congress in question.
Let's take the case of a soccer team that, in a twenty-match tournament, loses fifteen games and draws five. On the last date, in fact, the team fell 5 to 0 . A journalist could affirm that this defeat was the logical culmination of such a bad campaign. It would have been strange for the team to win right at the end of the championship: that is why the defeat is the culmination that was foreseen.