Best book dedication you ever read?

[Pecksie]

I was wondering if you guys are ever eager to look at a book's dedication, like I am - and, if so, what was the best one you ever read. I think there is something loving and intimate in the act of dedicating a book to someone.

I remember the dedication of a book by Manuel Talens, "Hijas de Eva" ("Daughters of Eve"), which said something like this:

"They say that dedicating a book is one of the most exquisite acts of love one can perform. I would argue that it is even more beautiful to dedicate this one to you without saying your name" (I don't have it before me, so I'm quoting from memory here).

There are others I loved, but I'll try to get the books and transcribe them (as well as this one) literally.

[JBI]

I read a book dedicated to Robin Hood with a preface thanking Robin Hood, a colleague, for the help preparing the book.

[Etienne]

It's most probably the dedication of Tristam Shandy, Gentleman by Sterne and Rabelais' dedications of his books.

[Kafka's Crow]

Eliot's dedication of The Wasteland added at the time of 1925 reprint which simply but beautifully reads like this:


"For Ezra Pound: il miglior fabbro"






'

[Mark F.]

Most of Bulowski's dedications, notably :

Pulp : "Dedicated to bad writing"

Post Office : "This is presented as a work of fiction and dedicated to nobody"

[Pecksie]

Eliot's dedication of The Wasteland added at the time of 1925 reprint which simply but beautifully reads like this:


"For Ezra Pound: il miglior fabbro"






'

I loved that one.

[BreakawayChloe]

Neil Gaiman 'Anansi Boys'. It put a smile on my lips and I haven't even read the book!

[Pecksie]

Neil Gaiman 'Anansi Boys'. It put a smile on my lips and I haven't even read the book!

What does it say?

[bookwormsuz]

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis!

To Lucy Barfield
My Dear Lucy,

I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say, but I shall still be

your affectionate Godfather,
C.S. Lewis

[JBI]

I loved that one.

I wonder if Pound edited it in.

[Simao]

Of all the books I read I liked Les Misrebales dedication by Victor Hugo. I don't remember the exact words but I do remember that it is the best dedication I have ever read.

[Serenity5815]

Harry Potter because Jo dedicated to me. Not me personally, but it was dedicated to her fans, and even though mine was one of millions of copies, I still felt like it was just for me.

[JBI]

Harry Potter because Jo dedicated to me. Not me personally, but it was dedicated to her fans, and even though mine was one of millions of copies, I still felt like it was just for me.

To my fans, and their parents' wallets. Unless you are old enough to buy your own book, then just to your wallet.

[Serenity5815]

To my fans, and their parents' wallets. Unless you are old enough to buy your own book, then just to your wallet.

"And to you if you have stuck with Harry until the very end."

I was there with him the entire time. What an awful woman going from desolate poverty to millionaire. How dare she.

[mayneverhave]

"And to you if you have stuck with Harry until the very end."

I was there with him the entire time. What an awful woman going from desolate poverty to millionaire. How dare she.

There is nothing wrong with earning money - but do not attempt to justify her literature as art by saying she made a lot of money off of it.

J.K. Rowling is a brilliant business woman, but inept as an artist.

[JBI]

There is nothing wrong with earning money - but do not attempt to justify her literature as art by saying she made a lot of money off of it.

J.K. Rowling is a brilliant business woman, but inept as an artest.

She or her publicist? Her publicist is clearly an absolute genius, but she? Well, I guess, in a way, she relied more on luck than on craftiness. I don't know how much of the business was her, and not her lawyer though. I would think 99.9999% agent/lawyer, .00009% other, and the rest maybe her.

[kelby_lake]

There's one in Long Day's Journey into Night where O'Neill dedicates it to his wife, for their 12th wedding aniversary, and he says that she gave him the strength to write the autobiographical play.

[Pecksie]

To my fans, and their parents' wallets. Unless you are old enough to buy your own book, then just to your wallet.

Hahahaaah:lol:

[tractatus]

I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating it to a grown-up. I have a serious reason: he is the best friend I have in the world. I have another reason: this grown-up understands everything, even books about children. I have a third reason: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs cheering up. If all these reasons are not enough, I will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown-up grew. All grown-ups were once children-- although few of them remember it. And so I correct my dedication:

To Leon Werth
When he was a little boy

Noone read The Little Prince? :)

[Cellar Door]

TO MOTHER
who was more or less like All
mothers, but she was mine, —and
so— She excelled

Djuna Barnes Book of Repulsive Women

[Guinivere]

I dedicate this book to George W. Bush, my Commander-in-Chief, whose impressive career advancement despite remedial language skills inspired me to believe that I was capable of authoring a book.

Pedram Amini

Here are Tad Williams book dedications from the "Otherland" series. From books one to five.

"This Book is dedicated to my father Joseph Hill Evans with love.
Actually Dad doesn’t read fiction, so if someone doesn’t tell him about this, he’ll never know."

"This Book is dedicated to my father Joseph Hill Evans with love.
As I said before, Dad doesn’t read fiction. He still hasn’t noticed that this thing is dedicated to him. This is Volume Two – let’s see how man more until he catches on."

"This is still dedicated to you-know-who, even if he doesn’t.
Maybe we can keep this a secret all the way to the final volume."

"My father still hasn’t actually cracked any of the books – so, no, he still hasn’t noticed. I think I’m just going to have to tell him. Maybe I should break it to him gently.

'Everyone here who hasn’t had a book dedicated to them, take three steps forward. Whoops, Dad, hang on there for a second...' "

[weltanschauung]

memorias postumas de bras cubas (bras cubas' posthumous memoirs) - machado de assis

"ao verme que primeiro roeu as frias carnes de meu cadáver, dedico com saudosa lembrança essas memórias póstumas"
(to the worm that first gnawed the cold meats of my corpse, I dedicate with wishful recollection these posthumous memoirs)
\m/

[hellsapoppin]

I believe one of Dostoyevsky's books was dedicated to the victims of the Spanish Inquisition. Perhaps it was Bros Karamazov.

[kasie]

While I was a student, I had a landlady who used to pop into our lounge/study and borrow books ('Eng Lit students, must be something decent to read here...'), consult our dictionaries and us for solving crossword clues, pass on jokes, discuss the day's lectures, Life, the Universe and Everything. She knew we were aspiring writers and one day asked if we would dedicate our first books to her. Cautiously we agreed, knowing a punch line was coming, and asked what she would like us to put in the dedication: 'To M.R.' she replied, 'without whose interference this book would have been finished a lot sooner.'

[Pecksie]

I dedicate this book to George W. Bush, my Commander-in-Chief, whose impressive career advancement despite remedial language skills inspired me to believe that I was capable of authoring a book.

Pedram Amini

Here are Tad Williams book dedications from the "Otherland" series. From books one to five.

"This Book is dedicated to my father Joseph Hill Evans with love.
Actually Dad doesn’t read fiction, so if someone doesn’t tell him about this, he’ll never know."

"This Book is dedicated to my father Joseph Hill Evans with love.
As I said before, Dad doesn’t read fiction. He still hasn’t noticed that this thing is dedicated to him. This is Volume Two – let’s see how man more until he catches on."

"This is still dedicated to you-know-who, even if he doesn’t.
Maybe we can keep this a secret all the way to the final volume."

"My father still hasn’t actually cracked any of the books – so, no, he still hasn’t noticed. I think I’m just going to have to tell him. Maybe I should break it to him gently.

'Everyone here who hasn’t had a book dedicated to them, take three steps forward. Whoops, Dad, hang on there for a second...' "

God, you made me laugh! Is the Bush dedication real? :lol:

[mona amon]

"And to you if you have stuck with Harry until the very end."

I was there with him the entire time. What an awful woman going from desolate poverty to millionaire. How dare she.

:thumbs_up

That's my favourite too. :)

[Babyguile]

An honest and simple one :p:

To caffeine and sugar, my companions through many a long night of writing.
- Robin Hobb, Ship of Magic

[postcards_x]

I loved Kao Kalia Yang's dedication in "The Latehomecomer":

To my Grandmother, Youa Lee,
who never learned how to write.
To my baby brother, Maxwell Hwm Yang,
who will read the things she never wrote.

the book was wonderful also.

[Elentarri]

I like the dedications by Tad Williams in his Other Land books - it's like a joke:

Otherland Book 1: "This book is dedicated to my father, Josepha Hill Evans, with love. Actually, Dad doesn't read fiction, so if someone doesn't tell him about this, he'll never know."

Otherland Book 2: "This book is dedicated to my father, Josepha Hill Evans, with love.
As I said before, Dad doesn't read fiction. He still hasn't noticed this thing is dedicated to him. This is Volume Two - lets see how many more before he catches on."

Otherland Book 3: "This is still dedicated to you-know-who, even if he doesn't. Maybe we can keep this a secret all the way to the final volume."

Otherland Book 4: "My father sill hasn't actually cracked any of the books - so, no, he still hasn't noticed. I think I'm just going to have to tell him. Maybe I should break it to him gently.
'Everyone here who hasn't had a book dedicated to them, take three steps forward. Whoops, Dad, hang on a second...' "

:D

[Elentarri]

Grrrrr - sorry - someone beat me to it. :(

[PeterL]

To my fans, and their parents' wallets. Unless you are old enough to buy your own book, then just to your wallet.

At least she was honest.