So a dedication to someone deceased might also be a declaration that
one needs no patronage and has no financial need attached to the book
in question -- a kind of stepping above the (soon-to-be) Grub Street
fray?
Joel B Davis
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Stetson University
421 N Woodland Blvd #8300
DeLand FL 32721
386.822.7724
On Sep 7, 2006, at 4:57 PM, andrew zurcher wrote:
> Something I meant to mention earlier, but forgot, alas:
> Virgils Gnat. Long since dedicated To the most noble and excellent
> Lord, the Earle of Leicester, late deceased. [1590]
>
> Michael: Probably so (overstated), but an author ca 1590-1600 (at
> least) stood to gain more than payment from a successful dedication:
> further employment, political intervention, a place to go when the
> plague hit, and so on; and publishers stood to gain sales. In his
> account of the calling in of Mother Hubberds Tale in 1591, Tresham
> makes a note of the dedication of the work, which seems to him to
> increase its notoriety and must-have value.
>
> az
>
>
> Andrew Zurcher
> Tutor and Director of Studies in English
> Queens' College
> Cambridge CB3 9ET
> United Kingdom
> +44 1223 335 572
>
> hast hast post hast for lyfe
>
>> general, I have agreed with others who have suggested that the
>> payment function of the epistle dedicatory, though continuously
>> present through the 17th century, has been overstated in scholarship,
>> with respect to its occurence and importance to authors and printers.
>> However, I can't think of
>
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