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.
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... 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
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... More about Journey by Pony Cart from the Finger Lakes to the Berkshire Mtns
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
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). More about The Little Book of Hawaiian Flowers
(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). More about A Printer's Garden
(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 about Miniature octagon-shaped Koran
(Watertown, MA): Anne and David Bromer, 1977. (24)pp. The text is printed on Japanese paper with ornamentation in green. Wood engravings by Sarah Chamberlain, as her first miniature book commission. This is the first miniature book published by the Bromers. Midori Kunikata-Cockram captures the whimsical nature of the text, which... More about The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast
Paris: Laurent et Deberny, 1855. ii, 160pp. A miniature edition of the eighteenth-century Jesuit poet’s work. This "dainty little edition," as Bondy describes it, or "Edition Mignardise," is printed in beautifully clear and amazingly small type created by the Fonderie Laurent et Deberny in Paris. Kathryn I. Rickard's copy, with..... More about Ver-Vert suivi de La Chartreuse, l'Abbaye et autres pieces
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 about One Solitary Life
Los Angeles: Dawson's Book Shop, 1991. 21pp. One of 60 copies of this miniature leaf book printed by Pall Bohne for Dawson's Book Shop. With an engraved, illustrated leaf from an extremely rare miniature two-volume picture-Bible, printed in The Hague by Daniel Langeweg, circa 1750. The original leaf contains a.... More about Original Leaf from the Kleine Print Bybel c. 1750
(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 about A Small House. Excerpt from The Wish by Abraham Cowley (1647
(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 about Love
Enkhuizen, Holland: Levien, Jack R., 1972. (8)ff. Second edition. A very funny short story about miserliness and virginity. Printed in Levien's own handwriting, with his drawings. Bound in red gilt-stamped leather. Fine. (11/16 by 1/2; 17x12mm). More about Brigitte
(Bristol): Lilliput Press, 1986. (44)pp. One of 250 copies signed by the printer, Allan Armstrong. Contains British recipes from the 18th and 19th centuries, with a hand-colored frontispiece and hand-colored illustrations of dishes and kitchen equipment. Very fine in gilt-stamped red morocco. (1 3/8 by 1; 35x25mm). More about Country Fare
(Bristol): Lilliput Press, 1986. (25)ff. One of 55 copies indicated as the first edition, signed and numbered by the illustrator, A. Clements. An accordion-fold panorama about the language of flowers, linking each flower to an emotional state or its social interpretation. "A" is for allspice, which is associated with compassion... More about Flower Talk
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 about "The Death of Your Kind and Brave Father": President Lincoln Writes to Miss Fanny...
(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 about Manuscript Ibadat
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 about Heures des Jeunes Chretiens
Paris: Marcilly, (c. 1840). 96pp. Printed by Firmin Didot, but with a Marcilly imprint. With engraved half-title and five plates, the finely executed illustrations depict scenes from the life of Christ. The prayers are arranged for special occasions: morning prayers, evening prayer, and prayers for communion and vespers. This tiny... More about Le Petit Paroissien de la Jeunesse
