Interesting Book Dedications

Okay, there are many boring dedications in books. "To my mother", "For John," etc. YAWN

But sometimes you come across an interesting one. Like Empire of Ivory- To Francesca, may we always flee lions together

And Chamber of Secrets- For Sean P.F. Harris, Getaway Driver and Foul-Weather Friend

Share some interesting book dedications with me!

The Alchemyst- For Claudette, of course, iamque opus exegi

and Howl's Moving Castle- This one is for Stephen. The idea for this book was suggested by a boy in a school I was visiting, who asked me to write a book called The Moving Castle. I wrote down his name, and put it in such a safe place, that I have been unable to find it ever since. I would like to thank him very much.

I am not bothering to go pick up one of the books and type in the dedication but I liked the dedications in the Lemony Snicket books because they both evoked Dante and they were macabre.

#3- I'll see if I can find one of the dedications, Mar.

Cyrano de Bergerac- It was to the soul of CYRANO that I intended to dedicate this poem.

But since that soul has been reborn in you, COQUELIN, it is to you that I dedicate it. ~E.R.

I love the dedication in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows....
J.K.Rowling dedicated the book to me!!

I was thinking of writing in the DH dedication, but part of its interest and charm is the way it is written, swirling down the page. I wasn't sure I could make it do that on here.

I love the one from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:

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

3- Here's a couple, Maren.
From The Bad Beginning:

To Beatrice-
darling, dearest, dead.

And from The Reptile Room:

For Beatrice-
My love for you shall live forever.
You, however, did not.

#7:
i like that one too.i am a big fan of the narnia series.;-)

I like the one in Inkheart

For Anna, who even put The Lord of the Rings aside for a while to read this book. Who sould ask anymore of a daughter.

And for Elinor, who lent me her name, although I didn't use it for an elf queen.

Good one MrsG!

The Gawgon and the Boy

For those with a Gawgon of their own,
and those who wish for one

I thought of DH, too, saify!

Hi saify!!! *waves ecstatically*

11 JP: is that a good book? I really like Lloyd Alexander and have thought of reading it. I think it is supposed to be somewhat autobiographical, isn't it?

I want to dig into my books for the dedication pages I loved most! Drat the wait! I wonder why we didn't have a thread like this sooner. Great idea, jp! :)

#2 cat:
Gah! Dedication spoiler! ;)

#6 jp:
It would take some editing, but I almost want to try it. I'll have to wait till I have the book in front of me to read the dedication, though. :)

#7 foggi:
I remember that one. I like it.

#8 cat:
Whenever I read a book from the series, I always wondered if Snicket was trying to stick to the theme of series even on his dedication pages.

#10 MrsG:
I had liked that quote, too.

Hmm, I'm looking for a book to see if I can grab a good quote, and it seems I have found books mentioned on LT by two LTers today. Oh, well. ;)

On the subject of dedication pages and books, I've always wanted to have a book published of my own one day. There's a wonderful poem I fell in love with and want to include as part of the dedication whenever that happy day may be. I'm going to be secretive about this poem until then.

#8Thanks cat! Yes K, I think Snicket was being unreliable in the dedication as well.

I like the Narnia dedication as well.

>#14: Is it this poem:


The limerick packs laughs anatomical
In space that is quite economical...

I like the book dedication in Amelia Writes Again. It's kind of hard to type.

This Notebook is dedicated to
_________Liisa, ---->This is NOT a spelling mistake - it's her name!
because she liked the first one so much,
and to Journal Writers Everywhere.

To my mother, Candy, who taught me that love is the best part of any story

This in in The Host. It explained Stephenie Meyer's personality so that I couldn't help but think no wonder her stories are what they are.

#16 MrA:
I somehow doubt it. ;)

Here's a good dedication....

#12:
Hiya littlegeek!!!!*waves back*

#19:
littlegeek and I agree with u Kerian.this one is a good dedication.:-D

Note to self, search Talk before starting anything yourself!

I love dedications, I'm in the process of collecting all of the ones in my library here and have suggested an extra field in CK here.

There are also many websites if you google "book dedications" which is how I found this thread!

In my copy of Emma (which I bought used), by Jane Austen, it is written "For Julia, love from Mom and Dad. Christmas 1980." That's not an author dedication but it is cute anyway.

In A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers:
First of all:
I am tired
I am true of heart!
And also
You are tired.
You are true of heart!

#22-Hello justjim! I love your dedications page! Feel free to post some of the funnier ones here. Arthur C. Clark has a lot of good ones!

Why, thank you JP. There is some discussion over on the CK group and it has even got ConceptDawg started so who knows where it will all end up.

Jim

19- Oh yay! You found the dedication, K! JP and I were thinking of putting that one on, but we couldn't figure out a way to get it to look the way it did in the book. Thanks!

You're welcome! How could we be without that one here? :)

To the Young Mongols:
Never forget the Mongolian scholars
who were willing to sacrifice their lives to preserve your history.

~Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

For James,
who gave me a mango and threw me in the water.
~Mardi McConnochie'S Coldwater

This book is dedicated to the very many people who have enjoyed reading Pride and Prejudice since it was first published in 1813, and especially to
Rachel
who always want to know more.
~Janet Aylmer's Darcy's Story

For Kate and Morgan
and for everyone
whose first love
was a hard love.
~Ellen Wittlinger's Hard Love

For all those who
against all odds
made the right choice.
~Charles de Lint's The Onion Girl

Hey, I'm the 30th post again! Didn't mandy have a #30 post thing going on?

I'm surprised no one has put a certain book's dedication here.

This book is dedicated to my ninja/agent, Jodi Reamer.
Thank you for keeping me off the ledge.

And thanks also to my favorite band,
the very aptly named Muse,
for providing a saga's worth of inspiration.
~Stephenie Meyer - Breaking Dawn

This was from the book I just finished and it really made me laugh:

"For Colin Firth--You're a really great guy, but I'm married, so I think we should just be friends."

~Shannon Hale's Austenland

That's awesome!

#31 el:
KIK! That's a good one!

"You know how it is. You pick up a book, flip to the dedication, and find that, once again, the author has dedicated a book to someone else and not to you.

Not this time.

Because we haven't yet met/have a glancing acquaintance/are just crazy about each other/haven't seen each other in much too long/are in some way related/will never meet, but will, I trust, despite that, always think fondly of each other....

This one's for you.

With you know what, and you probably know why."

~Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys.

Dedications are now a field in CK. Go get 'em!

Hi,

I am finishing my dissertation right now and don't consider myself much of a writer, although I love literature. I would love to come up with, or use a dedication for my dissertation that is interesting and fun, but has a touch of warmth for my family and whoever has helped me on this endeavor...or something future oriented as so much is in the process of "becoming" for me. Does anyone have any favorite dedications or suggestions of things they've written ?

Thanks so much for your help everyone :)

Edie :)

Edie what a nice thing to do. I recall when my sister finished her dissertation she thanked various family members and people who had been supportive. I think it was still very succinct and professional because of the field which is a little different than the latitude someone writing a book dedication may have but I think some brief comments of thanks for how someone helped you is very appropriate.