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 ...
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Our miniature books are listed below. You may also browse our miniature books by publisher or by century.
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. 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
(N.p.): Sunflower Press, 1984. 37pp. One of 125 copies, signed by Cunningham. Illustrated with color prints, and with Chinese postage stamps. Photoreproductions of terracotta soldiers act as endpapers. Hint of fading to spine, else eear fine in full gold cloth wtih illustration of The Great Wall inlaid to upper cover..... More
Mill Valley, CA: Sunflower Press, 1985. (39)pp. One of 85 copies, signed by Carol Cunningham, who printed the book. A brief history of the Inca civilization illustrated throughout with hand-colored images and striking gold-stamped illustrations on black paper. Bound in lavender cloth woven with colorful Inca designs on the covers..... More
(Mill Valley, CA): Sunflower Press, 1980. (23)ff. One of 125 copies signed by the author/printer, Carol Cunningham. With a full-page color frontispiece. Text printed in black, except for one title piece in red. Brown endpapers and paste-downs, with the Chinese characters for "Large Territory" and "Mountain Peaks" printed on both..... More
(N.p.): Sunflower Press, 1986. (29)pp. One of 85 copies, signed by Carol Cunningham. Floral motifs, printed in purple, accompany haikus musing on the natural world. Faint fading to spine, esle near fine in quarter purple leather, with patterned papers over boards. (2 1/4 by 1 7/8; 58x46mm). More
Mill Valley: Sunflower Press, 1987. (30)pp. One of forty copies signed by the printer, Carol Cunningham. With illustrations printed in various colors, some hand-colored and one highlighted with gold. A brief history of the manufacture, trade, and uses of silk in Eastern and Western fashion. Bound in multi-colored silk over..... More
Morro Bay, CA: Tabula Rasa Press, 1984. 36pp. One of 300 copies. Fairy tale with six full-page black & white illustrations. Fine in marbled boards backed in blue leather with gilt titling. (2 1/2 by 2 1/8; 63x54mm). 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, CA: Thomas, Donna and Peter, 1995. 54pp. One of 100 copies. Each chapter opens with an enlarged initial, which has been decorated with elements from the Thomas's travels in Africa. In boards covered with handmade brown paper that has been printed with a zebra pattern. When opened, the..... 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. Letterpress printed on Peter's handmade paper, with five samples of his handmade papers tipped in. Fine in lilac-colored boards. (2 15/16 by 1..... More
Santa Cruz: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2000. (62)pp., accordionfold. One of forty copies. A visual reconstruction of Donna Thomas's hike down the entire 218-mile John Muir Trail through the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, the accordion illustrates the diversity of region, from its plants to its sweeping views. Bound in..... 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
(Exeter, NH): C. Norris & Co., 1812. 142pp. A charming thumb Bible with significant stories told in prose followed by 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..... 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: Tilt & Bogue, (c. 1835). 191pp. Contains forty-eight wood engravings illustrating Aesop's fables, including two portraits of Aesop himself. Bondy writes of the Tilt's Handbooks series "their apparently everlasting popularity has resulted in making it increasingly difficult to find complete copies of these pleasing little volumes." Bound in full..... More
Tokyo: Toppan, 1979. Three micro-miniature volumes: Birth Stone, Language of the Flowers, and Zodiacal Signs. Together set into a leather-covered sleeve, which is then housed with a magnifier in a custom matching box, the lid of which has a red and blue design evocative of the red and blue covers..... More
Brooklyn: Traders Press, 1969. 29pp. One of 500 copies. An essay on the history of miniature books and small types, together with a short biography of DeVinne by Jack Levien. With samples of small types and whimsical illustrations by Levien. A reprint of an important essay by the designer of..... More
(Marlboro, VT: Tasha Tudor, n.d.). Handmade card rosily painted with a winged mouse bravely, if meekly, extending a heart to the reader, while ringed in a lilac heart-shaped wreath. The mouse's offering is no coincidence; the interior of the card reads, "Valentine greetings, with love, from the mice at 54,"..... More
Boston: Bromer, Anne & David, 1984. 14pp. First edition of Clemens' humorous contribution to an autograph book presented to Mrs. Grover Cleveland in 1889. From an edition of 200 copies, this is one of fifty deluxe copies bound in full leather by Barbara Blumenthal and with hand-colored illustrations by Rez'..... More
Boston: Urbino, S. R., 1864. 69pp. Part of a rare series of American miniature children's books published by Urbino in 1864. In blind-stamped red boards with title in gilt on the spine. Starting between endpaper and title page, occasional spotting to interior, else near fine. (Welsh 6883; Bondy, p. 73)..... More
Munich: Waldmann & Pfitzner, (c. 1953). Micro-miniature. One of the four books called Kleinsten Bücher der Welt, and referred to at the time as "the smallest book in the world." Printed in seven languages. Very fine in black leather with gilt bands to spine and a gilt border. Housed in..... More
Sierra Madre, CA: Bernhardt Wall, 1946. 34pp. Number one of 200 copies, signed by Wall, who etched the entirety of this book, including the text and illustrations, and printed and bound the edition. The book is printed in several colors of ink on a variety of papers and includes numerous..... More
