A dedication is not a message and the difference matters.
A message is addressed to the person opening the book. A dedication is addressed to somebody who may not be — a parent who has died, a person who will never see it, the reason the book exists rather than its recipient.
That is why it sits on its own page, why it is one line, and why it is written in the third person as often as the second.
The form
One line. Its own page. Nothing else on it.
The whitespace is doing the work. A dedication crowded onto a page with other text is not a dedication, it is a sentence.
For Amma, who took all of these and is in none of them.
For Rohan. Sorry about the third one.
For everyone in the flat, 2014 to 2018.
What separates a good one
It says something the rest of the book does not. If the dedication summarises the book, it is redundant — the book is right there.
It is allowed to be oblique. A dedication is the one place where a private reference is appropriate even in a public book, because nobody expects to understand somebody else’s.
It is short enough to be read as one thought. Past about twenty words it becomes a paragraph and loses the form.
| A dedication | A message |
|---|---|
| One line | A hundred to six hundred words |
| Its own page | Front or back page |
| May address somebody absent | Addresses the reader |
| Often third person | Second person |
| Not explained | Can explain |
When a book needs one
When somebody is missing from it. The commonest and best reason. A parent who died, a person who could not be there. Writing about someone who has died →
When somebody made it possible without being in it. Whoever took the photographs is almost never in them.
When a group made it and one person collected. A dedication is the correct place to say that.
Not every book needs one. A first-page message does the job for most gifts, and a dedication on a book that does not need one reads as formality. What to write on the first page →
Where it goes
Before the photographs, after any first-page message, on a right-hand page of its own.
If the book has both a message and a dedication, the message comes first and the dedication is the last thing before the photographs begin — so it is the sentence the reader carries into them.
The one mistake
⚠️ Explaining it.
“For Amma, who took all of these and is in none of them — she was always the one holding the camera, which is why…”
The first clause was the dedication. Everything after it is a caption that has wandered onto the wrong page.
Twelve that work
Not to copy — to show the range of the form.
- For the people in the flat, and nobody else.
- For Papa, who is in two of these.
- For Anjali, who asked for this in 2019.
- For whoever finds this after us.
- For Ma. Everything before page nine is yours.
- For the dog.
- For Ravi, who took all of them.
- For us, at the time.
- For Nani, in her handwriting on page four.
- For the version of you who moved cities alone.
- For everyone who said it would not work.
- For no one. This one is mine.
Every one of them is under twelve words, and none summarises the book.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between a dedication and a message? A message is addressed to whoever is opening the book. A dedication may be addressed to somebody who will never see it.
How long should a dedication be? One line, under about twenty words, on a page of its own.
Does every photo book need one? No. A first-page message covers most gifts. A dedication on a book that does not need one reads as formality.
Can a dedication be private or oblique? Yes. It is the one place where a reference nobody else understands is appropriate.
Where does it go? On its own right-hand page, after any first-page message and immediately before the photographs.
Part of our guide to captions and messages. See also: what to write on the first page and writing about someone who has died.
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