Посвящения “прекрасному полу” в русских изданиях XVIII века

Literary works were often dedicated to women in eighteenth-century Russia. At that time, not only crowned heads of state served as patrons, but also, and often, noble and educated ladies. Dedications to the “fair sex” followed the European, especially the French, tradition of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. These polite dedications began to appear in original and translated works by Russian authors starting from the late 1760s. As a rule, they were tinged with sentiments of love, and the women to whom they were addressed appear in them as objects of worship. One of the main examples is Karamzin's verse ‘Epistle to Women’ (1795), which can be seen as an early Russian defense of women's rights.