Front of book by honorific servant (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
title page
'front of book' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'by honorific servant' is the wordplay.
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'honorific' becomes 'title' (I've seen this in another clue).
'servant' becomes 'page' (I've seen this before).
'title' put next to 'page' is 'TITLE-PAGE'.
(Other definitions for title page that I've seen before include "Sheet bearing name of book and author" , "One of the first leaves" , "appearing at start of play?" , "to start work" , "One starting book" .)