Mary Ⅰ and the Art of Book Dedications: Royal Women, Power, and Persuasion

摘要

The past decade has seen a growing interest in early modern paratexts and a greater attentiveness to the bibliographical culture of the reign of Mary I. In this adaptation of her doctoral thesis, Valerie Schutte combines these interests by examining fifty-one book dedications to Mary (of which thirty-three accompanied printed books and eighteen accompanied manuscripts) and places them in the context of dedications addressed to Lady Margaret Beaufort and the wives of Henry Ⅷ. In doing so, she aims to improve our understanding of the role played by powerful women in book production and to show 'how dedications were used to negotiate power, favor, and religion'. Dedications are, she argues, a form of 'textual negotiation' and can be understood through 'literary analysis'.