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
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
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
Watertown, Mass. Bromer, Anne & David, 1979. (20)pp. From an edition of 85 copies, only 50 of which were for sale, this is the publisher's copy. Printed by Darrell Hyder. This is the text of the first edition (1840), printed as a micro-miniature with a pictorial opening initial hand-calligraphed by..... More
Watertown, MA: Bromer, Anne & David, 1979. (20)pp. One of 85 copies, only 50 of which were for sale. Printed by Darrell Hyder. This is the text of the first edition (1840), printed as a micro-miniature with a pictorial opening initial hand-calligraphed by Janet Hobbs. Bound by C. Allan Carpenter..... More
Watertown, MA: Bromer, Anne & David, 1978. 30pp. One of 150 copies printed at the Bird & Bull Press and signed by Henry Morris. This was the first—and last—miniature to be printed at the Bird & Bull Press, and the first Bird & Bull checklist to appear in print. Fne..... 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 is the publisher's copy, so indicated in Moore's calligraphy on the colophon page. This Elizabethan poem was discovered in a manuscript in 1985 and..... 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 is the publisher's copy, so indicated in Moore's calligraphy on the colophon page. This Elizabethan poem was discovered in a manuscript in 1985 and..... More
NY: Abrams and The Grolier Club, (2007). 215pp. Miniature edition. This is an exact facsimile of Bromer & Edison's important reference work on miniature books, reproduced on a miniature scale. Profusely illustrated with more than 260 full-color photographic reproductions, including numerous full-page illustrations and two-page spreads. A comprehensive history of..... More
Glasgow: Bryce, David, (c. 1898). 128pp. These snippets of comic wisdom reveal the lighter side of a publisher primarily known for literary and religious works. As the title-page proclaims, "A little nonsense now and then/ Is relished by the wisest men." Cover and spine gilt-stamped with the title. Contemporary ownership..... More
Glasgow: David Bryce & Son, (1904). 64pp. An unusual oblong-format Bryce with page one containing both the title-page, with an Oriental design, and the first page of the preface. This layout is most likely the uncut version of the Bryce Rubaiyat. Bound in finely gilt-stamped gray-brown leather with yapp edges..... More
