Table of contents

Pliny the Elder credits Quintus Valerius Soranus (d. 82 BC) as the first author to provide a table of contents to help readers navigate a lengthy work.

[1] Pliny's own table of contents for his encyclopedic Historia naturalis ("Natural History") may be viewed online in Latin and in English (following dedication).

In the early medieval era, the innovation of tables of contents had to be abandoned, due to the cost of paper.

The depth of detail in tables of contents depends on the length, complexity, and type of work.

[4] Formal reports (ten or more pages and being too long to put into a memo or letter) also have a table of contents.