# Dedication

> Source: https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/dedication

Last updated: 2026-09-06
Category: Manuscript & structure

A dedication is a short line honouring a person, placed alone on a recto page in the front matter, without a heading, typically after the copyright page.

## Definition

A **dedication** is the author's personal inscription to someone — a partner, a parent, a friend, occasionally a reader or a city. It is one of the few pages in a book that belongs entirely to the author and it is expected to be short: a line or two, rarely more than a short paragraph.

It appears in the **front matter** on its own recto, conventionally right after the copyright page and before the epigraph or the contents, set without a heading (the word "Dedication" is never printed) and often in italics, centred or placed on the upper third of the page. The verso behind it is left blank.

A dedication is different from the **acknowledgements**, which thank the people who helped make the book and can run for pages, and from an **epigraph**, which quotes someone else's words rather than offering the author's own.

## Related

- [Epigraph](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/epigraph)
- [Front matter](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/front-matter)
- [Recto and verso](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/recto-and-verso)
- [How to Write a Memoir](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/guides/how-to-write-a-memoir)
- [Poetry Book Maker](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/formats/poetry-book-maker)
- [Book Publishing Glossary — 59 Terms Defined](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary)
- [Bindery — the Claude-powered book studio](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/bindery)

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