OK, that was a helpful lead. But I'm having problems implementing.
I enter the metadata in the head part of the html file, but I am missing how to code this properly.
If I enter the package and metadata declarations, it seems NOT to accept closing tags. Some of the metadata flows through and can be read by Adobe Digital Reader (ADR), but unless I enter the publisher in the "edit metadata" section of calibre, ADR says publisher unknown.
If I just enter the metadata details in the head of the html file, the first page of the calibre epub output lists the metadata.
My goal remains to create a metadata entry that does not require tweaking in calibre or after generating the epub. Kindly point out where I have gone astray. Thanks.
From the head section of the html:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<package version="2.0" unique-identifier="PrimaryID" xmlns="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf">
<metadata xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
xmlns

pf="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf">
TITLE <dc:title>A Tree for Max: A Fable</dc:title>
AUTHOR <dc:creator opf:role="aut">Jerry Halberstadt
opf:file-as="Halberstadt, Jerry"
</dc:creator>
PUBLISHER <dc

ublisher>New Technology Publishing, Inc.: Photoluminations</dc

ublisher>
PUB DATE <dc:date>2011-09 </dc:date>
ID <dc:identifier id="PrimaryID">ISBN: 978-1-882431-11-3</dc:identifier>
LANGUAGE <dc:language>en</dc:language>
DESCRIPTION<dc:description>Trees, birds, and a dog cooperate to help Max get a tree to help him adjust to his new home. A story of loss and discovery, a fable of growth and change, and love of the natural world shown in beautiful photographs.</dc:description>
RIGHTS<dc:rights>Copyright 2011 Jerry Halberstadt</dc:rights>