The book homes in on the transitional zone between the interior and the exterior of a literary opus, i.e. its framework. It inquires into the way in which the various border regions of literary texts – title, preface, footnotes, etc. – contribute to their internal unity. In the 18^th century a number of decisive changes took place in this respect. Authors began incorporating the apparently external “appendages” of the framework into the internal organization of their works and to appreciate the functions they perform in esthetic terms.