Some are not just to mom, or dad, or from your two wise daughters. One dedication in particular is my favorite, because it ties the author to the story.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint−Exupery
> 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:
I love that one as much as you, but if/when it comes time to purge Olin Shivers from any position of respect within academia or computer science, this will be used as Exhibit A against him and evidence of his "violent tendencies". It will go nicely with one of ESR's pro-gun screeds when painting a picture of "why tech has a gun violence problem".
he used to teach geography to a bunch of 14 year olds, so he had to be harsh sometimes to get us quiet enough to learn.
once, i was sitting by myself during his class and i was reading lord of the rings under the table (it was that HUGE edition that has the 3 books + appendix) -- i was so focused i didn't see him coming. he called my name, i looked up, he asked me what i was doing. i said reading a book, he scowled, and went back to the front of the class.
months later, at the parents-teacher conference, he called my mom out in front of everybody. my mom thought he was going to say something bad, but in fact, he said he was proud to see a young student reading but that she should tell me that there are places to read those kind of books, and middle of class is not one of them.
he also gave her a book so she could give it to me -- a book on genghis khan's empire. it had a dedication that said:
"i dedicate this book so you can have nice moments and remember your teacher"[0] (shitty translation from ptbr, sorry).
it was already a great gift -- i loved books -- but the dedication on the book made it so much more... special. since them, whenever i give books to people (and i still do frequently, books are one of my passions), i write something nice, mostly because i feel that it makes that specific book special to that person.
Its an acknowledgement that knowledge grows like a tree, and every new creative work has a root or foundation in the past which was used as inspiration and leverage to reach new heights and without which, perhaps those heights might not have been possible to reach.
A good one - "If I've been able to reach new heights, it's because I strove after the examples set by my inspirations."
A couple of years ago I was sorting an uncatalogued batch of old children books. At random I leafed through a thin grey book, from the 1870s, with a beautiful print on the cover of a young boy in furs on a viking ship. Inside was a tender dedication from a grandpa to his grandson. Something about adventure and wonder as I recall.
Getting a peek into the relationship between an old man and his grandson, well over a hundred years ago, was really something. It enlightened the otherwise mundane job of sorting these books for me.
It made the book some much more than an example-document of 19th century children literature, and turned it into historic artefact of children culture.
Not really an author, but I do some writing, and good writing is, in my experience _hard_. Obviously, just like software development, its kind of all-or-nothing, either you finish the it and get it in front of people (and then maybe make some money/fame of it), or you fail to finish the project that you have now sunk a ton of time into. Just like software, you can quickly finish something, but then it will likely not be quality, and won't receive the attention you maybe think it deserves. All of this to say I think authors probably get a lot of support and assistance and thats why dedications happen.
To me it's the same thing as writing 'greetz' in some sort of software release. It's letting people know that it's not just a monolithic release but had inspirations and ideas that extend beyond the immediate.
I was once told that this is due to the library system in the US. I was told that you, as an author, get a bit of money when someone is borrowing your book at a library. If the book has a dedication you get a tiny bit more money and that is the reason. I have not verified this information but always believed it was true. I might be wrong.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 46.6 ms ] threadThe Little Prince by Antoine de Saint−Exupery
> 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
he used to teach geography to a bunch of 14 year olds, so he had to be harsh sometimes to get us quiet enough to learn.
once, i was sitting by myself during his class and i was reading lord of the rings under the table (it was that HUGE edition that has the 3 books + appendix) -- i was so focused i didn't see him coming. he called my name, i looked up, he asked me what i was doing. i said reading a book, he scowled, and went back to the front of the class.
months later, at the parents-teacher conference, he called my mom out in front of everybody. my mom thought he was going to say something bad, but in fact, he said he was proud to see a young student reading but that she should tell me that there are places to read those kind of books, and middle of class is not one of them.
he also gave her a book so she could give it to me -- a book on genghis khan's empire. it had a dedication that said:
"i dedicate this book so you can have nice moments and remember your teacher"[0] (shitty translation from ptbr, sorry).
it was already a great gift -- i loved books -- but the dedication on the book made it so much more... special. since them, whenever i give books to people (and i still do frequently, books are one of my passions), i write something nice, mostly because i feel that it makes that specific book special to that person.
[0] https://i.imgur.com/rK3y2wp.jpg
A good one - "If I've been able to reach new heights, it's because I strove after the examples set by my inspirations."
Getting a peek into the relationship between an old man and his grandson, well over a hundred years ago, was really something. It enlightened the otherwise mundane job of sorting these books for me.
It made the book some much more than an example-document of 19th century children literature, and turned it into historic artefact of children culture.
I went looking for some of the information about why authors write dedications, but I didn't see any of that.