Favorite dedication?

[Grace]

Forgive me if this has been done before. List of dedications: fleurishes.tumblr.com/post/9858088978/dedications-by-lemony-snicker

Feel free to talk about your honorable mentions!

[A comet crashing into Earth]

TBB's dedication holds a special place in my heart simply for being the very first words of the series I love so much.

The TWW one is such a beautifully obvious statement, it reverts all the way back through superfluity and becomes quite powerful.

The one in TEE seems very appropriate for the book - it's the first one that suggests that Lemony himself played a role in the series of unfortunate events that eventually led to Beatrice's death, and it opens the book that introduces Esmé, who played a notable role in that story (isn't this also the book where she complains about Beatrice stealing the sugar bowl from her?).

The THH one is good because it's quite funny without losing the sense of melancholy that these dedications characteristically have.

TGG is a very poetic encapsulation of the whole series.

My vote, however, goes to TE for having two of the most melancholic dedications - no doubt enhanced by my own knowledge when reading them that I'm nearing the end. In spite of this, I'm thinking mainly of the first one - "I cherished, you perished. The world's been nightmarished."

[Grace]

I think my initial favorite and the reason I created this poll was for TWW's dedication, "I would much prefer it if you were alive and well," because the humor is so Handler. But at the last minute I remembered TPP, which is arguably the same kind of dark humor, but perfected.

I also love TRR for the same reason, and TAA for the pure morbidity of it (followed by TAA's "memento mori").

[gliquey]

Best ones: TMM ("My love flew like a butterfly / Until death swooped down like a bat / As the poet Emma Montana McElroy said: / 'That’s the end of that.'") and TPP ("No one could extinguish my love / or your house.").

Honourable mentions: all of them.

Honestly, I think they're all brilliant, but the ones with more obvious 'punchlines' or surprisingly grim jokes (e.g. TVV: "When we were together I felt breathless. / Now you are.") are generally the ones I prefer. I have to say though, that TWW is my least favourite - "I would much prefer it if you were alive and well." is just a little underwhelming. I think I've always been confused as to whether it's supposed to be humour at all, or just a serious statement from Snicket.

[B.]

"No one could extinguish my love or your house"

hilarious

[Grace]

^ thanks for writing it out, btw. I started to do it but got tired really fast as I'm on my phone (and will be for the next month lol).

[colette]

Definetely the Chapter 14 one: "We are like boats passing in the night -
particularly you. "
In Russian version it was followed by the beautiful illustration:

[Foxy]

I have to go with TSS: "When we first met, you were pretty, and I was lonely.
Now I am pretty lonely." I LOVE a good play on words.

So many of them are good! TPP is blunt and makes me laugh.

I remember the first time I opened the first book and read the dedication page. I think I was ten years old. I closed the book and put it away, creeped out. Luckily I saw someone in my class reading TMM and thought Klaus was Harry Potter, so I decided to give the books another try!

[lemonmeringue]

TBB holds a special place, for obvious reasons, but I personally like TWW very much, for exactly the reason most seem to dislike it. It's beautifully simple and honest. Not witty, not morbid, not funny, just sad and somehow exhausted.

[Agathological]

Miserable Mill for sure. I wondered for years about who on Earth Emma Montana McElroy was. Then her boyfriend responded to a thread on Reddit saying she was upset she wasn't included on the opening for MM1 on Netflix. He then deleted his comments sadly.

[Glittery666]

When we met, my life began
Soon afterward, yours ended