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.
Japan: Miyako Akai, 2008. (62)pp. From an edition of 100 copies, this is one of 90 regular copies. An original story about a winter trip written in Japanese by Miyako Akai, who also designed the book, with editing and translation into English by Larry Seidman. Circles have been cut out..... More
Wein (Vienna): Weidman, J., (1886). (68)pp. Begins with eleven portraits of famous women, including the ballerina Fanny Elssler, the opera singer Amalie Materna, and the actress Charlotte Wolter, each accompanied by a caption. The rest of the almanac provides charts of saints' days, a list accounting the number of years..... More
Neutitschein: L. V. Enders'schen K.-A. (c. 1917). (26)pp. A miniature German calendar, printed in red and black. Housed in a dark green leather portfolio, decorated with a gilt-stamped four-leaf clover to the upper cover. Loose in the portfolio, and pencil markings to two pages, else fine. (2 7/8 by 1..... More
Amsterdam: J. B. Elwe, (1793). (31)ff. Thirteen engravings, showing cherubs exercising their musical gifts on a variety of instruments, including pipes, flutes, and various horns and strings. Beneath each lies a rhyming caption in Dutch, lauding the benefits of music and the specific advantages of each cherub's respective instrument. These..... More
London: Company of Stationers, 1820. (24)pp. One engraving of "The London Institution, Moorfields," which spans four pages. The almanac's calendar records the times of sunrise and sunset, as well as various saints' days and term times for academic institutions. The volume also provides a table of the reigns of the..... More
London: Schloss, Albert, (1837). 64pp. "Poetically illustrated" by L.E.L. (Letitia Landon), with portraits of Landon, Queen Victoria, King William IV, Sir Walter Scott, Giulia Grisi, and Mozart. Also contains a calendar and lists of royal birthdays, European sovereigns, Queen's Ministers, the Royal Household, and Scientific Institutions. Tinier and more finely..... More
N.p. (1930). (28)ff. An informative watercolor manuscript describing the wing and rudder markings of aircraft from the United States, Latin America, Asia, and Europe. Most of the markings date from around the end of World War I, charting the rise of military aviation. The wing marking included under the description..... More
Tokyo: Bijou Book Hoshino. 48; 20pp. One of 200 copies. This parent and child set of miniature books was recorded as the world's smallest book in the 1982 Guinness Book of World Records. The "child" book measures a mere 1.4 millimeters square, and contains two Japanese nursery songs entitled "Ants"..... More
London: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1901. 149pp. + (1)p. ads. One of the "Midget" series of miniature books published by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. With portrait frontispiece and fifteen plates. Light soiling to cover, small ownership inscription to front endpaper, else fine in cream boards with red and..... More
Skokie, IL: Black Cat Press, 1977. (28)pp., frenchfold. One of 249 copies privately printed for the author. Illustrated with drawings in two colors by Elizabeth W. Houghlin. Fine in leather-backed decorated-paper boards. (2 5/8 by 2; 66x51mm). More
Chicago: Black Cat Press, (1966). 43pp. A collection of quotes from the likes of Franklin D. Roosevelt to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Benjamin Franklin to Robert Browning. Bound in red paper wrappers with starry endpapers. Fine. (2 5/16 by 2 1/2; 58x64mm). More
Chicago: Black Cat Press, (1968). 58pp. One of 250 copies. Nichols' discussion of Caravaggio's own artistic light, accompanied by illustrations and initials in blue, black, and white. Book designed by Norman W. Forgue and printed by Charles Young at the Norman Press. Bound in blue leatherette with gilt stamping to..... More
Skokie: Black Cat Press, (1976). (46)pp. One of 249 copies. The last two pages are a typefounder's variation from an 1882 specimen book which is a delightful ABC. Slightest rubbing to exterior and expected wear along spine, else fine in brown leather with gilt title and decoration. (2 9/16 by..... More
Skokie: Black Cat Press, (1976). (46)pp. One of 249 copies. The last two pages are a typefounder's variation from an 1882 specimen book which is a delightful ABC. Slightest rubbing to exterior and expected wear along spine, else fine in brown leather with gilt title and decoration. (2 9/16 by..... More
(Los Angeles: Blau, Bela, 1965). 47pp. One of 1,000 copies printed on pure vellum by Bela Blau. With a frontispiece portrait of Kennedy, and with each page handsomely printed within a gold-ruled frame. Very fine in gilt-stamped vellum, with a vellum-covered slipcase, which has a split starting to one corner..... More
Wien: (Lichtdruck der K.K. Graphischen Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt), (1912). 22; (126)pp. A facsimilie of Viennese printer Ludwig Bonnoberger's famous prayer book of 1607, presented to a gathering of bibliophiles at the Imperial Court Library in September 1912. Bound in buff cloth with interwoven silver threads. All edges are gilt and..... More
Winterport, ME: Borrower's Press, 1975. 31pp. One of 250 copies, signed and numbered by the printer-illustrator Jane Bernier. An essay on Longfellow, with excerpts from his works. This is the third Borrower's Press publication. Very fine in leather-backed tan cloth. (Bradbury, p. 31). (15/16 by 7/8; 25x21mm). More
Winterport, ME: Borrower's Press, 1980. 32pp. One of 350 copies signed by Jane Bernier, the printer. With charming hand-colored illustrations. Fine in gilt-titled red leather, with gold foil endpapers. (Bradbury, p. 33). (3/4 by 5/8; 19x14mm). More
Millbury, MA: John L. Boulette, 1962. (vi), 27pp. One of 300 copies. A generational account of the occupation of a peddler. Bound in burgundy paper-covered boards. Slight edgewear else fine. (2 7/9 by 2 1/16; 74x53mm). More
Buffalo: Breed & Lent, (c. 1866). 64pp. The third book in Frances Elizabeth Barrow's smallest and rarest series of Aunt Fanny books, focused on the adventures of two cats, Daisy and Dot, and their owners. In addition to her writing, Barrow was a prodigious teacher in New York City, where..... More
Buffalo: Breed & Lent, (c. 1866). 64pp. The first book in Frances Elizabeth Barrow's smallest and rarest series of Aunt Fanny books, focused on the adventures of two cats, Daisy and Dot, and their owners. Barrow, through Breed and Butler, published four other sets of six books under the pen-names..... More
Buffalo: Breed & Lent, (c. 1866). 64pp. The second book in Frances Elizabeth Barrow's smallest and rarest series of Aunt Fanny books, focused on the adventures of two cats, Daisy and Dot, and their owners. Breed & Lent's strategy to serialize Barrow's work tapped into the larger custom of nineteen-century..... More
Buffalo: Breed & Lent, (c. 1866). 64pp. The sixth and final book in Frances Elizabeth Barrow's smallest and rarest series of Aunt Fanny books, focused on the adventures of two cats, Daisy and Dot, and their owners. Here Barrow follows the depressing departure of Daisy's kittens at the conclusion of..... More
Buffalo: Breed & Lent, (c. 1866). 64pp. The fifth book in Frances Elizabeth Barrow's smallest and rarest series of Aunt Fanny books, focused on the adventures of two cats, Daisy and Dot, and their owners. In bibliographic research on this set, specifically by Doris Welsh, there was an appearance of..... More
Buffalo: Breed & Lent, (c. 1866). 64pp. The fourth book in Frances Elizabeth Barrow's smallest and rarest series of Aunt Fanny books, focused on the adventures of two cats, Daisy and Dot, and their owners. Because of their size and popularity, the books in this series are the most difficult..... More
