The things I think when cataloguing books...
Why do books have dedications? Think about it - have you ever seen a book, no matter how arcane or obtuse, dry or dusty, that wasn't dedicated to someone? I bet you haven't. Books always have dedications. It might be to a person or a place or, like the one in front of me at the moment, caffeine. But there's always a dedication. And they go back about as far as books themselves, but why?
Why books? Why is it something so utterly associated with books that I've never seen one without it? Other artworks don't automatically have dedications. Records, poems, plays, paintings, films, sculptures, architectural drawings - some do, some don't, but it's not a given. But with books it absolutely is. Why?
Why books? Why is it something so utterly associated with books that I've never seen one without it? Other artworks don't automatically have dedications. Records, poems, plays, paintings, films, sculptures, architectural drawings - some do, some don't, but it's not a given. But with books it absolutely is. Why?