Just started reading East of Eden by Steinbeck and the dedication to his editor is just beautiful.
Dear Pat,
You came upon me carving some kind of little figure out of wood and you said, “Why don’t you make something for me?”
I asked you what you wanted, and you said, “A box.”
“What for?”
“To put things in.”
“What kind of things?”
“Whatever you have,” you said.
Well, here’s your box. Nearly everything I have is in it, and it is not full. Pain and excitement are in it, and feeling good or bad and evil thoughts and good thoughts- the pleasure of design and some despair and the indescribable joy of creation.
And on top of these are all the gratitude and love I have for you.
And still the box is not full.
JOHN
by Micotu
4 Comments
In Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy, I think it depends on the release whether the dedication comes at the beginning or end. In any case I’ll post it here:
>I will be your child to hold
>And you be me when I am old
>The world grows cold
>The heathen rage
>The story’s told
>Turn the page.
I liked the one from Joseph J. Rotman, in his book “Introduction to Algebraic Topology”
“To my wife Marganit and my children Ella Rose and Daniel Adam without whom this book would have been finished two years earlier.”
“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 only 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.
NOTE: the author would like to take this opportunity to tip his hat respectfully to the ghosts of Zora Neale Hurston, Thorne Smith, P. G.Wodehouse, and Frederick “Tex” Avery.”
Excerpt From : Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman
John Gwynne- Hunger Of the Gods- For his late daughter
” For my darling Harriett, surely there can be no more tears left in all the world, for we have wept them all over you. “