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.
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...
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).
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. (2 5/16 by 1 15/16; 59x49mm). (Bradbury, p. 96).
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. (2 1/2 by 2 1/16 in.; 63x52 mm). (Bradbury p. 96).
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).
Franklin, NH: Hillside Press, 1966. xvii, 42pp. One of 375 copies. Various texts by Shakespeare with twelve silhouettes by Paul Konewka. Fine in burgundy cloth over boards, faintly rubbed. (2 5/16 by 1 15/16; 60x50 mm.).
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. (2 3/8 by 1 15/16 in.; 60x49 mm). (Bradbury, p. 96).
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. (2 5/16 by...
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 in.; 58x50 mm).
Milano: Ulrico Hoepli, 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...
(Boston): Anne and David Bromer, 1986. (15), (15)ff. From an edition of 160 copies, bound together here are one of the thirty-five deluxe copies with hand-illuminated initials in gold and colors by Suzanne Moore, and one of the 125 regular copies. Both are A.P. copies, indicated in Moore's calligraphy on...
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 with chapter title pages printed in green and black. An account of an unlikely friendship made...
(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...
Tempe, AZ: Houle, Kelly M., 2008. 14pp. One of 300 copies, signed by the printer, Kelly M. Houle. An English translation of Borges's poem, by Alastair Reid, with a center spread illustrated with an engraving of a library and mystic symbols from Egyptian, Mayan, and other cultures. At the end...
Japan: (1918). 64mo. Eleven original sumi-e and watercolor paintings in an accordion-fold book. The paintings are dated Taisho 7, that is, the seventh year of the Taisho period, or 1918. The paintings depict various landscapes, flora, and fauna, and have been created by the artists Sekitai Nagasaka, Seisen Oka, Hiyakunen...
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).
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...
NY: Johnnycake Press, 1985. (44)pp.+ a large fold-out map by David Marshall. One of fifty copies. Signed by the printer. An very fine copy with sugi bark endpapers, and bound in oasis goatskin by Carol Joyce with the sculpted impression of mountains across both covers. Bookplate of former owner. (2...
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.).
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 -...
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...
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...
Cleveland: Kinoike Press, 1964. x, 61pp. Signed by the author. Illustrated throughout in color, with descriptions of thirty different flowers that grow in Hawaii. Fine in leather-backed boards covered with Hawaiian tapa paper. Laid in is a slip with name and address of former owner. (2 3/4 by 2; 69x50mm).
(N.p.): Kitemaug Press, 1972. A ten-leaf accordion panorama, with eight floral ornaments printed in color, one to a page. Fine in printed wrappers, housed in a paper sleeve. (3/4 by 11/16; 20x18mm).
(Spartanburg, NC): Kitemaug Press, 1969. 8ff. One of 50 copies printed for friends of the Kitemaug Press. Number 1 in the Typomania Series, this book highlights decorative typographic cornerpieces. Fine in stiff paper wrappers.
