The term colophon derives from the Late Latin colophōn, from the Greek κολοφών (meaning “summit” or “finishing touch”).

The term colophon was used in 1729 as the bibliographic explication at the end of the book by the English printer Samuel Palmer in his The General History of Printing, from Its first Invention in the City of Mentz to Its first Progress and Propagation thro’ the most celebrated Cities in Europe.[6] Thereafter, colophon has been the common designation for the final page that gives details of the physical creation of the book.

The existence of colophons can be traced back to antiquity. Zetzel, for example, describes an inscription from the 2nd century A.D., preserved in humanistic manuscripts. He cites the colophon from Poggio’s manuscript, a humanist from the 15th century:

Statili(us) / maximus rursum em(en)daui ad tyrone(m) et laecanianu(m) et dom̅ & alios ueteres. III.
(‘I, Statilius Maximus, have for the second time revised the text according to Tiro, Laecanianus, Domitius and three others.’)

A common colophon at the end of hand copied manuscripts was simply “Finished, thank God.”

Latin: "Explicit iste liber, scriptor sit crimine liber, Christus scriptorem custodiat ac det honorem"

Meaning: "Here ends this book, may the writer be free from sin, may Christ protect the writer and give him honor"

This is a traditional medieval scribe's closing prayer/blessing

Greek: "Ὥσπερ ξένοι χαίρουσιν ἰδεῖν πατρίδα, οὕτως καὶ οἱ γράφοντες ἰδεῖν βιβλίου τέλος"

Meaning: "As travelers rejoice to see their homeland, so too do writers rejoice to see the end of a book"

This expresses the relief and joy of completing a long writing project

Sanskrit (Devanagari script): "श्रीकृष्णार्पणमस्तु"

Meaning: "Let this be an offering to Lord Krishna"

This is a devotional dedication of the work

Chinese: "書成矣,感謝天地"

Meaning: "The book is complete, thanks be to Heaven and Earth"

Expresses gratitude upon completion of the work

Hebrew: "סלע ארוב לאל חבש פלעגו סח"

"Rock (God) will guard/protect the writer who has completed his task" (Taking סלע as "rock," a common metaphor for God, and ארוב as related to "guard")

"Praise to God who has bound together these pages" (Taking חבש as "bind" and relating to the physical creation of the book)

"A prayer of thanks to the Almighty who has enabled this discourse" (Taking סח as related to "speech" or "discourse")

English (Ecclesiastes 12:12): "Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh"