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.
Bradenton, FL: Opuscala Press, 1991. Octavo. xiii, (i), 143pp. A curated and careful selection of essays about miniature books, along with a bibliography of them compiled by Robert F. Hanson. In variant binding "D": black paper over boards with gilt titling. Fine. More
Albany, NY: Fort Orange Press, 1987. Octavo. 156pp. A masterful and complete reference book, with chapters on each century, on each culture, on type, on bindings, cases, collecting, and much more. Fine in blue cloth. More
Cobleskill, NY: Kathryn I. Rickard, 1989. Large quarto. 250pp. One of 500 copies. A card signed by Miss Welsh is attached to the title page. With over 7200 entries plus a short title list, this long awaited volume is the first extensive bibliography of miniature books ever to be published..... More
Philadelphia: 1895. Unpaginated. An handmade album of portraits of various literary and historical figures, each one clipped from a different source and adhered to its own page. Among those represented are Shakespeare (whose name appears, somewhat deceptively, on the spine title), Ben Jonson, Balzac, Twain, and Ulysses Grant. A miniature..... More
Philadelphia: 1895. 2 vols. Unpaginated. An handmade album of portraits of various literary and historical figures and landmarks, each one clipped from a different source and adhered to its own page. Among those represented are Demosthenes, Ulysses Grant, and Washington Irving. A miniature record of the maker's aspirations and admirations..... More
Watertown, MA: Bromer, Anne & David, 1979. 46pp. One of 150 copies. Signed by Darrell Hyder, the printer. With pen and ink illustrations by Janet Hobbs and an introduction by Herbert H. Hosmer, Jr. This is the text of the original manuscript, which was later shortened considerably. Bound by C...... More
Franklin, NH: Hillside Press, 1964. 62pp. One of 350 copies. An entertaining account of the quirks, suspicions, and customs that characterize New Orleans. Fine in printed parchment. (2 1/4 by 1 15/16; 59x49mm.). More
Tilton, NH: Hillside Press, 1972. x, 38pp. One of 250 copies. With nine charming, hand-colored illustrations. Fine in peach cloth boards stamped in black. with an illustration of the elf beneath a mushroom. (Bradbury p. 95). (2 3/8 by 2; 60x50mm). More
Buffalo, NY: Breed, Butler & Co., 1863. 61pp. A grandmother tells her grandson the story of a vain little girl in order to comfort him after an accident. Bound in gilt-decorated purple cloth. Covers faded and slightly rubbed, else a fine copy. A.e.g. With the signature of a youthful owner..... More
(Boston): Anne and David Bromer, 1986. (11)ff. One of 160 copies printed at the Firefly Press and illuminated on the title page by Suzanne Moore. This Elizabethan poem was discovered in a manuscript in 1985 and initially attributed to Shakespeare. An elegant miniature bound in handmade paper over boards by..... More
Cincinnati: Mosaic Press, 1991. (46)pp. Illustrated throughout, to punctuate Caniff's reflections on the passage of time. Caniff was an American cartoonist and alumnus of Ohio State University, to which the copyright of this text belongs. Printed by O. Carroll Prewitt and bound by Miriam Owen Irwin. Very fine in red..... More
Cincinnati: Mosaic Press, (1981). (48)pp. One of 50 deluxe copies, signed by everyone involved in the production of the book, including the printer, Miriam Irwin, author, illustrator, and binder. With black & white illustrations by Helen Stephens throughout. Published in honor of Philadelphia on the occasion of the Tricentennial Celebration..... More
Cincinnati, OH: Mosaic Press, 1982. 41pp. With illustrations by Lacassa Gunter Fisher throughout, in black and white. Very fine in beige printed boards. (1 by 3/4; 25x20mm). More
Fullerton, CA: Lorson's Books, 1986. (20)pp., frenchfold. One of 50 copies, numbered, dated and signed by Murray, the designer, artist and printer. Four poems by Housman are illustrated with two full-page watercolor illustrations by Murray and a decoration to the title-page. Bound in olive cloth, with cross-stitched design. Black slipcase..... More
(Bexhill, Sussex): Silver Thimble Books, 1986. (24)pp. One of 50 copies illustrated with original watercolors and signed by the artist. Contains four pictorial watercolor title pages, and the endpapers show panoramic watercolor landscapes. Text includes "Adlestrop," a poem by Edward Thomas (1878-1917), "Four Ducks on a Pond," poem by William..... More
(Bexhill, Sussex): Silver Thimble Books, 1985. (40)pp. One of 150 copies hand-colored and signed by Murray. A tongue-in-cheek love story. With hand-colored frontispiece, initials, and floral ornaments. Mint in cloth with pictorial label. (2 1/8 by 1 5/8; 54x43mm). More
(Bexhill, Sussex): Silver Thimble Books, 1985. (43)pp. One of 50 copies hand-colored and signed by the author/artist. Illustrated throughout. A comic narrative poem, originally written as a puppet play for children. Mint in cloth with pictorial label. Black slipcase. (2 1/8 by 1 5/8; 54x43mm). More
Glasgow: David Bryce & Son, (1889). Two volumes. 64ff., as double-page spreads, continuously paginated. Each spread bordered in a single red rule, within which are the musical notations and lyrics for twenty-five Scottish songs. The lyrics often use the vernacular, bringing Scots vocabulary with Scottish brogue pronunciations. Both copies bound..... More
Glasgow: David Bryce & Son, (1905). 79pp. With a frontispiece portrait of Napoleon. A translation of a book "obtained from Buonaparte's Cabinet of Curiosities at Leipsic, during the confusion which reigned there after the defeat of the French army. It was held by him as a sacred treasure..., he being..... More
Antwerp: ex Officina Plantiniana, 1677. (lxii) (714)pp. Illustrated with fourteen full-page copper-engraved plates. Contains the Offices of the Virgin, the Offices of the Dead, the Passion, and Psalms for Vespers. Printed in red and black, with numerous woodcut initials and decorations. A large paper copy of one of the rare..... More
Old Stile Press, 1995. (9)ff., accordionfold. One of 240 copies, signed by the illustrator on the title page. Illustrated with an expansive woodcut by Julian Schwarz extending across eight spreads, one of a series of three such sets made by him. Printed by Nicolas McDowall at the Old Stile Press..... More
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
(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
