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, Massachusetts: St. Onge, Achille J., 1963. 56pp. Limited to 1000 copies with a portrait frontispiece. Very fine in gilt-stamped blue calf. A.e.g. (Massmann 22; Bradbury, p.253). (2 5/8 by 1 7/8; 67x47mm). More
Worcester: St. Onge, Achille J., 1939. 82pp. One of 950 copies printed at the Merrymount Press. This is the second book bearing St. Onge's imprint. With a frontispiece portrait of Emerson. Bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe in full russet morocco with gilt decorations on both panels. A very fine copy... More
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, MA. St. Onge, Achille J., 1960. 45pp. One of 1,000 copies printed by Enschedé en Zonen in Holland. With several full-page illustrations printed in green, along with a frontispiece portrait of the author. Bound in full tan calf with the title in gilt on the front cover. A fine... More
Worcester, MA: St. Onge, Achille J., (1965). 36pp. One of 2,500 copies. With a photographic portrait of Johnson tipped-in as a frontispiece. Very fine in gilt-stamped turquoise calf. A.e.g. (Bradbury, p. 254; Massmann 27). (2 11/16 by 1 7/8; 67x47mm). 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
Worcester: St. Onge, Achille J., 1967. 63pp. One of 1,250 copies. With a tipped-in photograph of the author, Archibald MacLeish, as a frontispiece. Fine in gilt-stamped blue leather. A.e.g. (Massmann 30). (2 7/8 by 2 1/16; 74x52mm). More
Worcester: St. Onge, Achille J., (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 prospectus laid in. A.e.g. (Massmann 34; Bradbury, p. 254). (2 5/8 by 1 13/16; 68x46mm). 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. Limited to 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: 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. 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
(Mill Valley, CA): Sunflower Press, 1983. (48)pp. One of 115 copies, signed by the author/illustrator/printer, Carol Cunningham. Illustrated with numerous colorful depictions of ceremonial masks from around the world. Bound by the designer Joseph D’Ambrosio in tan cloth with a shadow box on the front cover containing a hand-painted ceramic..... More
(Mill Valley, CA): Sunflower Press, 1996. (38)pp. One of twenty-five copies. With nine black & white illustrations and four additional illustrations cut from other sources and tipped in. This miniature provides a short history of time-keeping machines, from obelisks to clocks. Mint in gold cloth with printed paper onlay to... More
Morrow Bay, CA: Tabula Rasa Press, 1983. 41pp. One of 350 copies signed by the publisher, John Lathourakis. A humorous telling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, written using phonetically similar words. Illustrated throughout in red by Robert Rosenthal. With the miniature bookplate of the author Elenore Chaya. (Bradbury 44). (2 1/8 by 2; 55x50mm). More
Pasadena, CA: Tabula Rasa Press, 1980. 29pp. Initialed by the printer on colophon. The transcript of a speech, though aptly described here as a diatribe, given by Dr. I. Katura addressing the state of contemporary youth. Bound in brown cloth, fine. Bookplate of former owner. (2 15/16 by 2 3/16; 75x51mm). More
Baltimore: Xavier Press, 1988. vi, 18pp. Samuel Clemens's account of his formative time spent as a printer's apprentice, presented as a speech at a dinner for New York printers. Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Clemens and a vignette depicting a compositor setting type. This copy is in a designer... 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 & Peter, 1995. 54pp. From an edition of 100 copies, this is one of twenty-five which includes a 2 dollar bill from Zimbabwe. Each chapter opens with an enlarged initial, which has been decorated with elements from the Thomas's travels in Africa. In boards covered... More
Santa Cruz: Peter and Donna Thomas, 1990. 32pp., printed rectos only. From an edition of fifty, this is one of forty copies bound oriental-style, and tucked into a board folder. Tied into the folder opposite the book is a group of eleven additional illustrations, each printed on a different kind... 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
Jersey City, NJ: Colonial Life Insurance Company of America, (1909). (48)pp. A chronological sketch of the history of the U.S., describing major events in the country's development beginning with Columbus's discovery of the New World and concluding with Taft's inauguration in 1909. Illustrated with line drawings of important historical figures... More
