When you hold a miniature book in your hand, it is like holding a jewel. A miniature book is usually no bigger than three inches (76 millimeters) tall, and although some need magnification to be viewed properly, most can be read with the naked eye. Dating as far back as 2500 BCE, Sumerian clay tablets with cuneiform writing are considered the prototype for miniature books ...
Read more about Miniature Books
Our miniature books are listed below. You may also browse our miniature books by publisher or by century.
(Van Nuys, CA: Raheb, Barbara J. 1981). (46)pp. One of 300 copies, signed and numbered. With full-page black & white illustrations throughout. Fine in gilt-stamped sand-colored pyroxylin. Bookplate on front paste-down. (Bradbury, p. 211). (15/16 by 3/4; 24x19mm). More
(Tarzana, CA): Collector Editions, (1981). (32)pp. One of 300 copies, signed and numbered by Barbara Raheb. Illustrated throughout in black & white. A compilation of children's nursery rhymes and riddles. Soiling to spine, else near fine in a variant binding of decorated paper-covered boards with a paper label. Bookplate to... More
(Tarzana, CA: Raheb, Barbara J. 1981). (32)pp. One of 300 copies signed by the publisher, Barbara Raheb. A miniature version of Twain's story, accompanied by eleven black & white illustrations. Fine in a variant binding of gilt-stamped black and burgundy cloth. Bookplate to front paste-down. (Bradbury, p. 213). (15/16 by 3/4; 24x19mm). More
(Tarzana, CA: Raheb, Barbara J. 1981). (32)pp. One of 300 copies, signed and numbered by Barbara Raheb. With micro-miniature reproductions of Frank T. Merrill's original illustrations from the 1881 first edition. Soiling to rear board, else near fine in red gilt-stamped pyroxylin. Bookplate to front paste-down. (Bradbury, p. 213). (1 by 11/16; 25x18mm). More
(Van Nuys, CA: Raheb, Barbara J. 1981). (56)pp. One of 300 copies, signed and numbered. Illustrated throughout in black & white. Fine in green gilt-stamped pyroxylin. Bookplate to front paste-down. (Bradbury, p. 213). (1 by 3/4; 25x18mm). More
NP: Minikin Press, 1986. (24)ff. One of 150 copies, initialed by the publisher. Frontispiece and folding map etched by Max Marbles. The famous letter in which Jefferson tells Merriwether Lewis what he expects to be accomplished by the Lewis and Clark expedition. Light rubbing to covers, else fine in cloth-backed... More
Cincinnati: Mosaic Press, (1982). Three volumes. (48)pp. each. One of an unknown number of deluxe copies, signed by the printer, Miriam Irwin, the illustrator, and the author. Twenty-four dog breeds, from Afghan to St. Bernard, are illustrated and described over the course of this three-volume set. Bound by Hugo Grummich... More
Cincinnati: Mosaic Press, (1982). (24)pp. A tiny book containing clever sayings about the stock market. Very fine, in dark blue gilt-stamped leather. (Bradbury, p. 159). (1/2 by 1/2; 13x12mm). More
Cincinnati: Mosaic Press, (1981). (48)pp. One of 50 deluxe copies, signed by everyone involved in the production of the book, including the printer, Miriam Irwin, author, illustrator, and binder. With black & white illustrations by Helen Stephens throughout. Published in honor of Philadelphia on the occasion of the Tricentennial Celebration... More
Cincinnati: Mosaic Press, (1983). (32)pp. One of 50 numbered copies, signed by the author. With a title-page vignette, full-page illustration, and tailpiece designed by Romilda Dilley. Bound by Hugo Grummich in decorative paper-covered boards designed by Louise Bange, with title stamped in red on spine. T.e.g. Name in ink on... More
Cincinnati: Mosaic Press, (1982). (24)pp. This tiny, tiny edition contains only Portia's "quality of mercy" speech, quite legibly printed. Fine in tan leather with gilt titling and ornament. (Bradbury, p. 159). (9/16 by 1/2; 14x12mm). More
Bexhill-on-Sea, England: Gordon Murray, 1986. (26)pp. One of 50 copies hand-illuminated and signed by the artist. Illustrated with sixteen tipped-in floral watercolors, each painted against a gold ground. The endpapers show panoramic watercolor landscapes: one a river scene, and one an Elizabethan village. Text printed in brown, with initials hand-colored... More
Kaposvár, Hungary: József Mautner, 1989. 73pp., + (31)ff. plates. One of 200 copies, signed by the author, József Mautner. Illustrated with black & white portraits of the famed musicians and composers whose biographies are compiled in this volume, including Vladimir Horowitz, the Russian-American virtuoso pianist, and Jascha Heifetz, one of... More
(Ann Arbor, MI: North Tower Press), 1990. (6)pp., frenchfold. One of fifty copies, signed by the author/artist, Jean Lau. An ode to the natural world comprised of two sheets of paper french-folded together: the top layer is a sheet of thin, translucent paper printed with lines of poetry, which forms... More
Oakham, MA: Oakham Bindery, 1974. 60pp. One of one thousand copies. Illustration of General Gage facing title page and two-page image of the Battle of Lexington. A reproduction of Gage's accounts of an intelligence mission to Worcester, the status of the artillery at Concord, and the Battle of Lexington. Bound... More
Dallas: Somesuch Press, 1983. 24pp. Inscribed by Stanley Marcus, noted miniature book collector and proprietor of the Somesuch Press, to his friend and fellow microbibliophile Donn Sanford. A collection of love poems by Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Browning, illustrated with two United States "Love" stamps and a British stamp in honor... More
(Budapest): Sportpropaganda Vallalat, 1984. Two volumes: 127; 127 pp. A pair of tiny books on the Los Angeles Olympic Games, listing Hungarian participants and medal winners. The two books differ in size and cover design, but are identical as to content. Both are mint, in colorful printed boards, each with... More
Venice: Ongania, Ferd. 1879. Two miniature volumes bound as one. 354; 231pp. One of 1,000 numbered copies. With two portrait frontispieces and numerous, exquisite engraved vignettes throughout. Includes six sonnets which had recently been discovered by G. Veludo, the dedicatee, under a separate title. As Bondy notes, "The pagination of... More
Paris: Pairault & Cie, 1898. 64pp. One of 150 copies. All volumes in this turn-of-the-century miniature series are illustrated in black & white by contemporary French artists, in this case Charles Jouas. Bound in printed rose wrappers with a glassine dust wrapper. Some light toning to title page and final... More
Rijswijk, Netherlands: Gentenaar & Torley, 1998. Oblong small quarto. 255pp. Together with a smaller "child" book containing seventeen artistic paper samples, measuring 2 3/4 inches square, nested within the center of the "parent" book. Published on the occasion of the second Holland Paper Biennial in the Rijswijk Museum in 1998... More
Tokyo: Bunseido Press, 1980. 26pp., + 48ff. of samples. One of 128 copies, being the third volume in the washi series. Beautifully printed in 6-point type on 7-point lines, allowing great legibility, on mitsumata paper. Contains illustrations and 48 full-page paper samples, which are ordered using the 48 symbols of... More
Kasama, Japan: Cannabis Press, 1981. (16)pp., + 8ff. of paper samples. One of 200 copies printed on mitsumata paper. As with similar Cannabis Press volumes, this edition addresses regional methods of papermaking in France and Switzerland, after the author's visit to two French papermills and the 15th Congress of the... More
Kasama, Japan: Cannabis Press, n.d. (16)pp., + 7ff. of paper samples. One of 200 copies by printmaker and papermaker Aliza Thomas, who has lived in Israel since 1969. Mitnaan paper is derived from an evergreen shrub common in the Middle East. Beautifully printed by Asao Shimura on mitsumata paper with... More
Chicago: Petit Oiseau Press, 1954. 7pp. Although the limitation is not printed in the book, this is one of 100 copies. Doris Welsh's second book, published before she began to use the "Petit Oiseau" imprint. Illustrated with a drawing of the Mayflower as the frontispiece. Bound in purple cloth-backed decorated... More
Chicago: Petit Oiseau Press, 1963. 21pp. One of fifty copies. An amusing story about trying out a typewriter. Very fine in cloth-backed blue boards. (Bradbury, p. 179). (1 7/8 by 1 1/2; 48x38mm). More
