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.
Worcester, MA: St. Onge, Achille J., 1939. 82pp. One of 950 copies printed at the Merrymount Press. This is the publisher's second book. According to St. Onge's bibliographer, Robert Massmann, this copy is one of the 100 that were bound in Worcester, as it has marbled endpapers and a rounded..... More
Worcester: St. Onge, Achille J., (1968). 27pp. One of 2,000 copies with a portrait frontispiece. Very fine in gilt-stamped dark green calf. A.e.g. (Massmann 33; Bradbury, p. 254). (2 5/8 by 1 7/8; 68x47mm). More
(New Britain, CT): Robert E. Massmann, 1979. 84pp. One of 1,000 copies, with a portrait of St. Onge tipped in as a frontispiece. A bibliography of the forty-six miniature and several larger books published by St. Onge, with notations of issue points. Very fine in red gilt-stamped leatherette, with a...... More
Worcester, MA: Achille J. St. Onge, 1969. 67pp. One of 1,500 copies. Three essays on travel by McCord, Boston's famous literary figure. Very fine in gilt-stamped brown leather. A.e.g. (Massmann 35; Bradbury, p. 254). (2 11/16 by 1 13/16; 68x45mm). More
Worcester: Achille J. St. Onge, (1969). 45pp. One of 1,500 copies with a photograph of Nixon tipped-in as a frontispiece. Very fine in gilt-stamped blue leather. With original plastic wrapper. A.e.g. (Massmann 34; Bradbury, p. 254). (2 5/8 by 1 13/16; 68x46mm). More
Worcester, MA: St. Onge, Achille J., 1966. 36pp. Second edition. One of 1,000 copies. With a black and white frontispiece portrait of Paul Revere, which is a reproduction of the painting by John Singleton Copley at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Introduction by Esther Forbes. Fine in full..... More
Worcester, MA: St. Onge, Achille J., 1959. 38pp. One of 2,000 copies. With a one-cent stamp of Lincoln tipped in as a frontispiece. Very fine in full rust-colored morocco lettered and decorated in gilt on the front cover. A.e.g. Laid in are the prospectus and a newspaper clipping from The..... More
Worcester: Achille J. St. Onge, 1973. 23pp. First edition. One of 500 copies. Two elegies on one poet by another, written during the 1830s, while Swinburne was at Oxford, and found in his undergraduate notebook. Extremely fine in gilt-stamped red morocco. A.e.g. (2 11/16 by 1 7/8; 68x47mm). More
Worcester: Achille J. St. Onge, 1967. 44pp. One of 1,500 copies. The text is a study of a turtle colony in Concord, 1854. With five-cent postage stamp featuring portrait of Thoreau by Leonard Baskin as the frontispiece. Fine in forest green leather, with gilt titling and a gilt turtle on..... More
Worcester, MA: St. Onge, Achille J., 1956. 95pp. One of 950 copies designed by Bruce Rogers. Thoreau's well-known essay on the varieties, habitats, and habits of wild apples and crabapples. One of the most sought after of St. Onge's publications, and one of only two miniature books designed by Bruce..... More
Worcester, MA: Achille J. St. Onge, (1965). (12)ff. First edition, first issue with the dedication page. Illustrated in full color by Tasha Tudor. A fine copy in gilt-stamped green leather with pictorial dust jacket that shows a little toning to lower edge, and two repaired tears. A.e.g. (Massmann XIII). (3..... More
Worcester: St. Onge, Achille J., 1975. 65pp. One of 1,500 copies. With the 1969 U.S. postage stamp honoring California's Bicentennial tipped-in as a frontispiece. Illustrated with numerous black & white reproductions of postage stamps. Extremely fine in gilt-stamped blue leather. A.e.g. (3 5/16 by 2 1/4; 84x58mm). More
Worcester: St. Onge, Achille J., 1975. 65pp. One of 1,500 copies. With the 1969 U.S. postage stamp honoring California's Bicentennial tipped-in as a frontispiece. Illustrated with numerous black & white reproductions of postage stamps. Extremely fine in gilt-stamped blue leather. A.e.g. (3 5/16 by 2 1/4; 84x58mm). More
Worcester: St. Onge, Achille J., 1975. 65pp. One of 1,500 copies. With the 1969 U.S. postage stamp honoring California's Bicentennial tipped-in as a frontispiece. Illustrated with numerous black & white reproductions of postage stamps. Extremely fine in gilt-stamped blue leather. A.e.g. (3 5/16 by 2 1/4 in.; 84x58mm). More
Worcester: St. Onge, Achille J., 1975. 65pp. One of 1,500 copies, with a 1969 U.S. postage stamp honoring California's Bicentennial tipped-in as a frontispiece. Illustrated with numerous black & white reproductions of postage stamps. Extremely fine in gilt-stamped blue leather. A.e.g. Bookplate (3 5/16 by 2 1/4; 84x58mm). More
Worcester: St. Onge, Achille J., 1975. 26pp. One of 300 copies, making this one of the rarer St. Onge titles. This copy includes an ALs dated May 30, 1975 from St. Onge to bookseller Robert Merriam explaining the limitation and price of this particular title. Portrait frontispiece tipped in to..... More
(Austin, TX): Tarantula Press, 1985. (6)pp. bound accordion fold. An absurd tale of a young boy's mishandling of a stray dog. Fine in paper wrappers. More
(Bangor: Tatlin Books, 1996). (12)ff. A prayer for safety on the way, with subtle decorations in color. The first eight pages unfold to show a wheel-like design. "Very little pagan influence can be seen in this poem, which seems more prayer than charm." A handsomely designed and printed book on..... More
Santa Cruz: Good Book Press, 1988. (33)pp. One of 150 copies. A nonsense rhyme, illustrated with photographs of the printer, Peter Thomas, at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. Printed by letterpress on Peter's handmade paper, with five samples of his handmade papers tipped-in. Fine in lilac colored boards. (2 15/16 by..... More
Santa Cruz: Good Book Press, 1986. (19)pp. One of 200 copies. Four illustrations by Donna Thomas, printed in light brown. The text is a bedtime story by Peter Thomas and his daughter Tanya, in which Tanya visits her little sister Suzanne in the ICU with the help of a magic..... More
Santa Cruz, CA: Peter and Donna Thomas, 1990. From an edition of 200 copies, this is one of twenty-five deluxe copies with a miniature watercolor. The biography and footnotes to the text were written by Peter Thomas, and the illustrations were cut by Donna Thomas. Includes a seventeenth century paper..... More
(Exeter, NH): C. Norris & Co., 1812. 142pp. A charming thumb Bible, with significant stories told in prose and supplements with references to verses. Bound in full brown leather with gilt decorations to spine and covers, including the monogram "E. L." to upper cover. Rear flyleaf torn and small chip..... More
NY: Hurst & Company, (c. 1880). 192pp. Twenty-five engravings—one frontispiece and each of the remaining twenty-four introducing a chapter—depicting significant scenes from the Bible. Among them appear Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Pharaoh being swallowed up in the Red Sea, and Peter's denial of Christ. The volume..... More
Philadelphia: Conrad Zentler, 1811. (vi), 106pp. Engraved frontispiece, plus nine further engravings, each depicting biblical scenes, such as the ascension of Elijah and the birth of Christ. A famous Thumb Bible; according to Bradbury, the first foreign religious miniature book printed in America. Originally bound in red leather, this copy..... More
London: Tho. James, (c. 1700). The presence of the woodcut frontispiece portrait of the Duke of Gloucester makes this the first illustrated Thumb Bible. It precedes the dated edition of 1701 and is not recorded in Adomeit. This is the first James printing (before which the printer was alive) with..... More
