On the outside looking in

A 9th-century manuscript containing the works of Gregory of Tours, whose title or 'incipit' is given in red ink at the beginning of the text: 'Here begins [incipit] the first book of miracles...'

Titles tend to be located as much outside the text as inside.

It took titles centuries to achieve this ambiguity.

In the beginning, there were no titles, and God …