ornate dedications and descriptions

The modern “acknowledgments” page in books is a usually bland affair, with a long list of anonymous friends thanked briefly and, for the most part, colorlessly.

How different such prefatory gestures were in the early modern period!

A first example comes from the beginning of the 1651 translation of Agrippa’s magic book. (And incidentally, the frontispiece says “London, Printed by R.W. for Gregory Moule, and are to be sold at the Sign of the three Bibles neer the West-end of Pauls.”)

“The First of Three Books Entitled of Occult Philosophy or Magic. Written by that Famous Man, Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Knight, And Doctor of Both Laws, Counsellor to Caesar’s Sacred Majesty, and Judge of the Prerogative Court.”

An even funnier second example is Giordano Bruno’s dedication at the beginning of Cause, Principle, and Unity, though since it’s Bruno it does feel a bit tongue-in-cheek at times:

“Addressed to the most illustrious Monsieur Michel de Castelnau, Seigneur of Mauvissière, Concressault, and Joinville, Chevalier of the Order of the most Christian King, Counsellor of his Privy Council, Captain of fifty men at arms and Ambassador to the most serene Queen of England”