Colophon derives from the latin colophōn, which itself derives from the greek κολοφών, kolofón, meaning the summit or finishing touch.
In a publication, a colophon contains metadata of the publication within the publication- a type of in-channel communication.
Some provided instruction
[Latin] O beatissime lector, lava manus tuas et sic librum adprehende, leniter folia turna, longe a littera digitos pone.
[English] O most gracious reader, wash your hands and touch the book only like this: turn the pages softly and keep your fingers far away from the text.
Westgothic Lawbooks (~80 CE)
Some protected the book with a curse
[Latin] Si quis et hunc sancti sumit de culmine Galli, Hunc Gallus Paulusque simul dent pestibus amplis
[English] If anybody takes this book from Gall's estate, Gall and Paulus together shall inflict the plague upon him
Manuscript of St Paul's Capitula Epistle at Saint Gall Abbey (872~884 CE)
Others provided context & credit
[中文] 咸通九年四月十五日王玠为二亲敬造普施
[English] Reverently made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 13th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong
金剛般若波羅蜜多經, Diamond Sutra (CE 868)
This one simply informs you, dear reader, how this is made - it's a collection of plaintext notes written in UTF-8, utilizing a minimal markdown syntax for formatting. These notes are processed by the Zola tool to apply styling, project the writing into various templates, and calculating backlinks.
The resulting html & related static files are hosted by a service I pay for, and now you're seeing them via the internet, hopefully for your edification, or at least amusement.