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.
Venice: Ongania, Ferd. 1879. Two miniature volumes bound as one. 354; 231; (6)pp. One of 1,000 numbered copies. This is copy number 1, and it is signed by Ongania below the limitation statement. With two portrait frontispieces and numerous, exquisite engraved vignettes throughout. Includes six sonnets which had recently been..... More
Venice, FL: Opuscula Press, 1983. 61pp. One of 250 copies. Signed the author, Dunbar, and the printer, Robert Hanson. Frontispiece photograph of Steinbeck, plus tipped-in rendering of Steinbeck's signature flying pig. An overview of directions for collecting Steinbecks many works, including galley proofs, magazine publications, and special purpose books. Bound..... More
Kasama, Japan: Cannabis Press, 1981. 24pp., + 5ff. One of 200 numbered copies. Explores the Nepalese process of fine papermaking. With two black-and-white illustrations, one of a paper mould and one of sheets drying in moulds. Also includes five paper specimens. Fine in brown, stab-sewn wrappers of handmade paper, with..... More
(Boston: Marian Parry, c. 1998). (10)ff. One of thirty copies, signed by the artist, Marian Parry. Eight 2-by-3-inch cards (plus two more for the title and colophon) show various odd couples, satirically illustrated. The drawings were xeroxed and then playfully hand-colored by Parry, a well-known artist and illustrator. Fine in..... More
(Cambridge, MA: Runcible Press, ca.1985). (54)pp., frenchfold. One of 50 copies, signed by the artist/author, Marian Parry. With twenty-six delightful linoleum cuts in black & white, including such "beasts" as a gargoyle, a jabiru, a nautilus, and a xerus. Printed on Kozo paper and stab-sewn in decorated red paper. Minor..... More
Cambridge, MA: Runcible Books, (c. 1987). (12)ff. One of thirty copies, signed by the artist, Marian Parry. This copy inscribed by her on the first card to Dorothea Widmayer and Eleanor Webster. Ten 2 by 3-inch cards show the characters: the fascinating foreigner; the ingenue libertine; the weak young man..... 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
Chicago: Petit Oiseau Press, 1958. (31)pp. One of 50 copies. The "personal side" of a Florida hurricane, from eyewitness accounts in letters. Set, printed, and bound by Doris Welsh in three-quarter black cloth and coated gray boards. Fine. (Bondy, p. 172). (2 by 1 1/2; 50x39mm). More
East Greenwich, RI: River's Edge Studio, 1970. 45pp. From an edition of 500 copies, this is one of 300 bound in Beau Brilliant cover paper. Illustrated with sixteen tipped-in U.S. stamps, all featuring flowers or plants. Printed by Enschedé in the Netherlands. Fine in stiff green wrappers with gilt titling..... More
East Greenwich, RI: River's Edge Studio, 1970. 45pp. From an edition of 500 copies, this is one of 300 bound in Beau Brilliant cover paper. Illustrated with sixteen tipped-in U.S. stamps, all featuring flowers or plants. Printed by Enschedé in the Netherlands. Fine in stiff green wrappers with gilt titling..... More
East Greenwich, RI: River's Edge Studio, 1970. 45pp. From an edition of 500 copies, this is one of 200 bound in full green leather with gilt titling to upper cover and spine. Illustrated with sixteen tipped-in U.S. stamps, all featuring flowers or plants. Printed by Enschedé in the Netherlands. Fine..... More
Boston: Bromer, Anne & David, 1981. (36)pp. One of 115 copies. Signed by Linnea Gentry of the Amaranth Press, who printed and illustrated the book. Printed in two colors. An extremely fine copy in violet pastepaper boards with title stamped in silver to front cover, author to spine. Prospectus laid..... More
(N.p. Jo Anna Poehlmann, 1996). (55)pp., frenchfold. One of 100 copies. This ABC is filled with twenty-six terms for the cigar afficionado. Illustrated with cigar labels corresponding to the letters of the alphabet. "F is for full-bodied." "H is for hand-rolled." Bound in dried tobacco leaves over boards. When the..... More
Milwaukee, WI: JoAnna Poehlmann, 1998. (17)ff. One of 50 copies, titled and signed by the artist. An oval, folding panorama contained in a walnut shell, which is tied by a ribbon laced through both halves. The tiny pages show hand-colored lithographs of fifteen kinds of nuts, captioned in pencil by..... More
Berkeley: Poole Press, 1992. (17)ff. One of 75 copies. Signed by Maryline Poole Adams, the illustrator, printer, and binder. An ABC book showing what baby Alice can do (J, jounce; K, kvetch; L, laugh; and so on). Each page has a wood engraving and text in either red or blue..... More
Nappanee: Press of the Indiana Kid, 1976. (10)pp. One of forty-five copies. A miniature recollection of the printer's brief correspondence with George Bernard Shaw. Bound in leather-backed marbled boards lightly rubbed, else near fine. (2 3/4 by 1 7/8; 70x48mm). More
(Evanston, IL): Press of Ward Schori, 1982. (51)pp. On versos, the text of the Lord's Prayer is printed in red with a single-rule border in black; on rectos is a poem originally composed anonymously and found by a Union soldier in Mississippi on the say the southern forces were evacuated..... More
Evanston, IL: Press of Ward Schori, (1965). 45pp. One of 500 copies. Nostalgic snippets of poetry by various authors, from Shakespeare to A. E. Housman. The page numbers and other little accents are printed in turquoise. Very fine in black boards with gold decoration. (1 3/4 by 2 1/4; 44x55mm)..... More
Evanston, IL: Press of Ward Schori, (1965). 45pp. One of 500 copies. Nostalgic snippets of poetry by various authors, from Shakespeare to A. E. Housman. The page numbers and other little accents are printed in turquoise. Very fine in black boards with gold decoration. (1 3/4 by 2 1/4; 44x55mm)..... More
Evanston, IL: Press of Ward Schori, 1976. 25pp. Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of George Washington. Extremely fine in gilt-stamped red leather. The front cover has an elaborately-stamped bust of Washington within an oval frame. A.e.g. (2 7/16 by 1 3/4; 61x45mm). More
(Evanston): Press of Ward Schori, 1988. 12pp., frenchfold. One of 99 copies, signed by the printer. A nostalgic and heartfelt rumination on childhood and the things that last into adulthood. Printed on damask paper in blue and black, and bound in white flocked boards with gilt stamping. Fine. (2 1/4..... More
Evanston, IL: Press of Ward Schori, 1984. 55pp. One 239 copies printed letterpress. The frontispiece is a tipped-in commemorative postage stamp with a Blue Jay. An essay with several quotes from Twain, including the story of his first regrets at hunting songbirds. Fine in full blue cloth, with an engraved..... More
Evanston, IL: Press of Ward Schori, 1974. 32pp. One of 150 leather-bound, numbered copies. Signed by the printer, Ward Schori. Fine in gilt-stamped leather. A.e.g. (2 1/8 by 1 9/16; 55x40mm). More
Evanston, IL: Press of Ward Schori, (1990). (20)ff. Signed by Ward Schori. A classic French story with a twist. Fine in black velvet boards, with a gilt design and a jewel in the center. (2 9/16 by 2 1/4; 66x57mm). More
