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.
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
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
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
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. (2 5/16 by 2 in.; 58 x 49 mm). (Bradbury p. 95). More
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
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
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
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
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
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;..... More
Rijswijk, Netherlands: Gentenaar & Torley, 1998. Oblong small quarto. 255pp. Together with a smaller "child" book containing seventeen artistic paper samples, measuring 2 3/4 inches square, nested within the center of the "parent" book. Published on the occasion of the second Holland Paper Biennial in the Rijswijk Museum in 1998..... More
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
(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
(Chillicothe, OH: Mountain House Press, 1987). Four volumes. Unpaginated. One of 50 numbered copies printed by Dard Hunter II at the Mountain House Press. The text, written in 1915, is reprinted from the quarterly published by Alfred Fowler entitled The Miscellany, Volume II, No. 1. It was written by Dard..... More
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
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
(Turkey: c. 1875). 200ff. Complete, single column, with between thirty-eight and forty-one lines of miniature gold gubari per page. Surah headings in black against gold ribbon banners. The opening two pages of text feature illuminated blue, red, and white borders decorated with interlocking vinal circles, creating a mesmerizing array of..... More
Chicago: Le Petit Oiseau Press, 1968. 7pp. One of 150 copies. With a portrait frontispiece of Christ tipped in. Printed by Doris V. Welsh. Very fine in half blue cloth and yellow boards. (1 7/8 by 1 7/16; 47x36mm). More
(Stillwater, ME: 1993). One of twenty-six lettered copies by artist & calligrapher Nancy Leavitt. An original calligraphic manuscript comprised of twenty beautifully hand-painted pages with a miniature garden fold-out panorama. The garden is hand-lettered with tiny cut-outs, and delightfully painted. Bound in the shape of a house in fuchsia, teal..... More
(Rochester, NY): Leopard Studio Editions, 2014. (24)pp., accordion-fold, with two four-page inserts sewn in. One of five copies, signed and numbered by the artist. A miniature artist's book by Sue Huggins Leopard based on the poem by Emily Dickinson, which reads: "Love is anterior to life, / Posterior to death..... More
Valparaiso, IN: Sandlin's, 1994. 41pp. One of 200 copies. The text of President Lincoln's letter to Miss Fanny McCullough is reproduced on a foldout at the center of the book. Preceding the letter is an introduction by Ralph Geoffrey Newman, and following it are his notes. Fine in gilt-stamped black..... More
(c. 1900-1930). (110)pp. This Islamic devotional text is calligraphed in black and red and accented with blue and burnished gold. Illuminated with a hand-colored calligraphic frontispiece illustration in gold, blue, green, and purple ink. One section of the text opens with a decorative headpiece in green, and another page has..... More
Wellington, New Zealand: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1962-1965. 526; 567; 559pp. All with illustrations throughout. The Proverbs and Place Names are reprinted from "regular" volumes at the time still in print. The Gospels is the first Lilliput edition, published by permission of the British Foreign Bible Society, first publishers of..... More
Paris: Marcilly, (c. 1830). 127pp. A beautiful little book of hours for young people, with engraved title and five plates, the most charming showing David dancing and playing his harp, as he leads the procession of the Ark. Contains the Order of the Mass and various services in French, and..... More
Paris: Marcilly, 1825. 128pp. With an engraved title-page and seven engraved plates which showcase the elaborate evening costumes of the period. Occasional light foxing, minor soiling to boards and rubbing along outer hinges. Overall a near fine copy in blind embossed boards with slipcase. (2 3/4 by 1 7/8; 70x48mm)..... More
