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.
Buffalo: Hillside Press, 1982. 50pp. One of 350 copies signed by the author and printer, Eleanor Irwin. Slight skew to spine, else near fine in red, gilt-stamped leather. (2 7/16 by 2 1/16; 62x51mm). More about Victor Hammer
Franklin, NH: Hillside Press, 1964. ix,74 pp. One of 375 copies, signed by Irwin. An analysis of Nostradamus' famous foresight, with contemporary verses and texts added. Fine with illustrated dust wrapper, shabby at edges, featuring an image by William Blake. (Welsh 5298). (2 3/8 by 2; 60x51mm). More about The Centuries of Nostradamus
Buffalo: Hillside Press, 1978. 62pp. One of 275 copies, signed by the author/printer, Frank Irwin. Illustrated with reproductions of woodcuts and engravings from the fifteenth century onward. Fine in pictorial tan cloth. (2 1/4 by 2; 60x50mm). More about Early Woodcuts and Engravings
Tilton, NH: Hillside Press, 1976. ix, 60pp. One of 300 copies. With occasional black-and-white illustration, a collection of notes bearing on existential philosophy, mysticism, Zen Buddhism, and books. Bound in gray-blue leatherette over boards with gilt decoration. Fine. (2 5/16 by 2; 59x51mm). More about For All We Know
Buffalo, NY: Hillside Press, 1979. 42pp. One of 250 copies. Illustrated throughout in black & white with examples of heraldic bookplates from the fifteenth century onward, including that of George Washington. Fine in pictorial orange cloth. (2 1/4 by 1 7/8; 58x49mm). More about Heraldic Bookplates
Tilton, NH: Hillside Press, 1976. 51pp. One of 250 copies. Illustrated throughout with printer's marks from presses, both early and modern. Fine in yellow cloth, printed in black. Bookplate. (Bradbury p. 95). (2 5/16 by 2; 58x49mm). More about Printer's Marks and Colophons
Tilton, NH: Hillside Press, 1971. xix, 51pp. One of 350 copies. Illustrated with twenty-five full-page woodcuts and other illustrations. Contains a preface by Robert E. Massmann. Fine in green, gilt-stamped cloth. Bookplate. (Bradbury, p. 95). (2 3/8 by 2; 61x51mm). More about Bibliography of the Hillside Press
Tilton, NH: Hillside Press, 1975. xxiv, 92pp. One of 250 copies. With frontispiece portrait and vignette of Monticello. Fine in gilt-titled red leather. (2 3/8 by 2; 60x50mm). More about Letters of Thomas Jefferson
Roswell, GA: Hillside Press, 1983. vi, 58pp. One of 275 copies. An illustrated account of Morris' life and creative interests. Endpapers decorated with hand-colored renderings of Morris' motto, "Si je puis" and crest, similar to those found at Red House. Fine in printed blue cloth, with hand-colored ornament at endpapers... More about William Morris
Buffalo: Hillside Press, 1977. 48pp. One of 250 copies. With eight hand-colored illustrations. A fascinating study of card games from around the world. Very fine in orange pictorial cloth, stamped in black with a playing card illustration. (Bradbury, p. 96). (2 5/16 by 1 15/16; 59x49mm). More about History of Playing Cards
Buffalo: Hillside Press, 1977. 48pp. One of 250 copies. With eight hand-colored illustrations. A fascinating study of card games from around the world. Very fine in orange pictorial cloth, stamped in black with a playing card illustration. (Bradbury, p. 96). (2 5/16 by 1 15/16; 59x49mm). More about History of Playing Cards
Buffalo: Hillside Press, 1985. vii, 88pp. One of 300 copies, signed by the publisher, Eleanor Irwin. An illustrated essay about a famous Florentine library. Title page hand-colored. Fine in printed red cloth. (Bradbury, p. 96). (2 1/2 by 2 1/16; 63x52mm). More about The Spell of the Laurenziana
Buffalo: Hillside Press, 1978. 50pp. One of 250 copies. A version of the Arabian nights, illustrated in black & white. Fine in olive green cloth. (2 1/4 by 2; 59x49mm). More about Woman's Wit
Buffalo: Hillside Press, 1979. 39pp. One of 225 copies. The 1898 version of the text, written for Clemens' autobiography. A very fine copy in pictorial cloth binding. (Bradbury, p. 96). (2 3/8 by 1 15/16; 60x49mm). More about Jim Wolf and the Cats
Tilton, NH: Hillside Press, 1977. 46pp. One of 200 copies. With seven hand-colored illustrations by Albertine Weelan depicting butterflies, fireflies, and other winged creatures. Printed on Maidstone handmade paper and bound in publisher's blue cloth, with black lettering to the front cover and spine. A fine copy. (Bradbury, p. 95). (2 5/16 by 2; 59x50mm). More about The Sky Traveler
Tilton, NH: Hillside Press, 1976. (103)pp. One of 250 copies signed by the publisher, Frank Irwin. Frontispiece uncancelled stamp of Copernicus. Spaces provided for affixing the appropriate stamps, which would include portraits of Catholic historical figures, from Columbus to Kennedy, predominate. Fine in green cloth boards. (2 3/8 by 2; 58x50mm). More about Catholica on American Stamps
Milano: Hoepli, Ulrico, 1878. 499pp. One of 1,000 copies. The type, cut by Antonio Farina in 1834 but never used by him, was cast in 1850 for this edition of Dante, and is thought to be the smallest ever employed. According to Bondy, "the most widely-discussed and the most sensational... More about La Divina Commedia di Dante
Tokyo: Bijou Book Hoshino, 1979. 104; 88pp. Text in English and Japanese, with each language separately paginated. One of 150 copies. Illustrated with a two-page map of New Guinea, printed in green, and with chapter title pages printed in green and black. An account of an unlikely friendship made while... More about Old Enemy, New Friend
(Tempe, AZ): Kelly M. Houle, 2008. (1)ff., accordion-fold. One of thirty copies, signed by the artist, Kelly M. Houle. The book is comprised of a fold-out illustration of a banana plant, printed in black on yellow parchment-textured paper. Below the illustration is a haiku by the seventeenth-century Japanese poet Matsuo... More about Portrait of Bashô
San Diego, CA: Iron Bear Press, 2000. One of 50 copies, signed by Weintraub. Two volumes of fables, bound dos-a-dos. Fine in boards covered with gray and tan handmade paper. (3 by 2 3/8; 75x60mm). More about An Old Fable / A New Fable
NY: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., (1905). Five miniature volumes. 352; 382; 352; 347; 352pp. The titles are: Selections from the Alhambra, Selections from the Sketch Book, Selections from Bracebridge Hall, Selections from Tales of a Traveller, and Christmas Sketches. Printed by the Riverside Press, Edinburgh, on the thinnest India... More about The Miniature Irving
San Fernando, CA: Junipero Serra Press, 1990. 14pp. One of 200 copies. Field's poem about a little boy called Willie (ca. 1888) introduced by Francis J. Weber. A postage stamp with a child's drawing is tipped in. Very fine in brown leather with gilt titling. A.e.g. (2 7/8 by 1 15/16; 73x49mm). More about Immortal Little Willie
Paris: Rignoux, 1823. Ten volumes, each with 48 pages. First edition. Illustrated with 68 plates from copper engravings and one folding map. Legrand's miniature library for children contains the following titles: Morale en Action; Mythologie; Geographie; Fables; Histoire de France; Contes; Animaux; Insectes; Mineralogie; and Botanique. Augustin Legrand (1765 -... More about Petite Bibliothèque Portative
Palm Beach Gardens: Kaycee Press, 1989. (65)pp. Limited to 200 copies printed by Ward Schori. This copy inscribed by the author. Humorous and sensitive poetry to the memory of his mother by one of the founders of the Miniature Book Society. Very fine in covers of dark blue with gilt-stamping... More about Tongues of Flame
Lexington, KY: King Library Press, The Miniature Book Society, 2010. (20)pp. Produced in conjunction with a workshop for members of the Miniature Book Society held at the King Library Press during the 2010 MBS Grand Conclave in Lexington, Kentucky. The text is a selection from the cetology included in Moby-Dick... More about Duodecimoes from Moby-Dick; or The Whale by Hermann Melville
