"Cui dono lepidum novum libellum?"

During the sixteenth century, the traditional act of dedicating a text took on a new meaning due to the wider dissemination of the printed book. As the dedication and other paratexts thus became an almost indispensable part of the publication, they merit careful examination by those who study the presentation and impact of any printed work in its context. Paratexts bridge the gap between the outside World of the reading public and the enclosed world of the book, and often present biographical information concerning the persons involved in the making of the book. In the present volume, general reflections as well as case studies in the field of paratexts to Latin works and to musical compositions on Latin texts consider and exemplify these as well as other aspects of paratexts. The multidisciplinary perspective further enriches the insight in form, function and nature of the dedicatory act in the sixteenth century. A synthesis of the nature of the sixteenth-century dedication is thus presented, relevant not only to Neo-Latinists and musicologists, but also to (book) historians, philologists, and others.

Ignace Bossuyt is emeritus gewoon hoogleraar van de Onderzoeksgroep Musicologie van de KU Leuven. Nele Gabriëls is a Research Fellow at the Department of Musicology, KU Leuven, and collaborator of the Alamire Foundation. Demmy Verbeke is hoofd van Artes, de bibliotheek die vooral het onderzoek en onderwijs aan de Faculteit Letteren van de KU Leuven ondersteunt. Dirk Sacré is professor of Latin and Neo-Latin at KU Leuven.