prologues

The use of prologues is a venerable one, used by all sorts of writers in many different ways.

NaNoWrimo Workshop – Constructing Scenes « Write Anything 2009

The use of prologues is a venerable one, used by all sorts of writers in many different ways.

NaNoWrimo Workshop – Constructing Scenes « Write Anything 2008

The only place I've ever heard anyone say "I don't read prologues" is the recent discussion on DorothyL and even there it didn't seem to be a majority opinion.

QUIBBLES & BITS 2006

"prologues" and "persons," &c. Only 75 copies were printed: and of these, one was sold for 4_l. _ in the year 1804, at a public auction.

Bibliomania; or Book-Madness A Bibliographical Romance Thomas Frognall Dibdin 1811

So saying, "Arright, boyo, how does it start?" promptly hands me something like five prologues.

Barnstorming on an Invisible Segway 2009

Without prologues at California and the Tour, Bookwalter hoped increased focus on the time trial bike in training would transfer into improved numbers in the longer time trials.

Brent Bookwalter: turning fatigue into time trial results 2011

But the most effective prologues do one simple thing – entice the reader to move to chapter one.

NaNoWrimo Workshop – Constructing Scenes « Write Anything 2009

Neil: I wasn't really meaning to portray your "angle" as "down with all prologues!".

On Prologues Hal Duncan 2009

The Wikipedia article on prologues has some snippetable details that might be pertinent here.

Archive 2009-05-01 Hal Duncan 2009

The fact that the roots of the prologue are in Greek drama, for example, sort of makes the association between literary prologues and pre-credit sequences more tenable to me:

Archive 2009-05-01 Hal Duncan 2009