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.
(Los Angeles): William Cheney, 1975. (30)ff. The famous verse from "A Apple Pie, B Bit It, C Cut It," etc. is illustrated with large calligraphic-style letters in this micro-miniature book. It is the smallest book printed in California and was executed by William Cheney for Dawson's Book Shop. A very... More about ABC for Tiny Schools
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 about Aircraft Markings
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 about Almanach fur das Jahr 1887
(Vienna): K.K. Hofbibliothek, (1912). 22; (126)pp. A facsimile 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 gauffered, with two indented circles... More about Betbüechlein
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 about Betbuechlein
Boston: D. Hale, 1814. 256pp. Illustrated with sixteen wood engravings with captions. Adomeit records only eight surviving copies, five of which are mutilated. This is a complete copy, and perhaps the eighth of the seven, the others being recorded as held in institutions. In contemporary brown leather, with rules in... More about Bible History
London: Rock Brothers and Payne, (c. 1848-1859). 144pp. This later edition serves as one of a number of "Bijou Series," also found under the imprint of Rock & Co. Slightly larger than the dimensions recorded by Adomeit. Very mild bowing to rear cover, else a bright and fine copy in... More about The Bijou Bible. Fourth Edition
Tokyo: Toppan Printing Co., 1979. Two volumes, 16pp. each. The first volume is a micro-miniature, while the second is ten times as large, with identitical content listing the months with their corresponding birthstones. Accompanied by a gold tie tack, which has an inset magnifying glass. All housed in a red... More about Birth Stone
Oxford: Oxford University Press, (c. 1900). 576pp. An edition of the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer. Bound in full black leather with gilt tooling to upper cover, spine, and inner edges of covers. All edges red. The volume is in such fine and unsullied condition likely because it... More about The Book of Common Prayer
(Van Nuys, CA: Collector Editions in Miniature [Barbara J. Raheb], 1979). 70, (2)pp. One of 300 numbered copies. Includes numerous illustrations by Barbara Raheb. Very slight rubbing to lower board, else fine in black leather, elaborately gilt-stamped with four jewel-like stones affixed to upper cover. Bookplate. (Bradbury, p. 201). (1 3/16 by 7/8; 31x23mm). More about Book of Hours
Watertown, MA: Anne and David Bromer, 1977. (24)pp., frenchfold. From a deluxe edition of twenty-five copies, signed by the illustrator, Sarah Chamberlain, this is the publisher's copy. With an extra suite of ten artist's proofs of wood engravings, each signed by Chamberlain, as well as an original woodblock by Chamberlain... More about The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast. Together with: Butterflies in Flight woodblock
A nineteenth-century French solid gold enamel binding containing five bone leaves. First appearing around 1820, the carnets de bal were used to record the order of an evening's dances, as well as the name of the partner for a particular dance. This opulent example is decorated with a leaf border;... More about CARNET DE BAL (dance card holder
NY: Hurst & Company, (c. 1880). 192pp. Twenty-five engravings—one frontispiece and each of the remaining twenty-four introducing a chapter—depicting significant scenes from the Bible. Among them appear Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Pharaoh being swallowed up in the Red Sea, and Peter's denial of Christ. The volume..... More about The Child's Bible
Tilton, NH: Hillside Press, 1974. 38pp. One of 250 copies. Illustrated with numerous photo-engravings surrounded by keen numismatic analysis of colonial currency's forms and functions. Very fine in yellow cloth. (2 5/16 by 1 15/16; 59x50mm). More about Colonial Coins
(England: c. 1902). (6)pp. A brass photograph album in the form of a locket, containing six pictures: King Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark, crowned in 1902, the Prince and Princess who became George V and Queen Mary, and a child who is possibly the future Edward VIII. The final... More about Coronation Album
(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
N.p. n.d. (4) ff. A photo-reduced reproduction, with news of the day on the cover and horse race information inside. Fine. (1 5/8 by 1 1/16; 41x27mm.). More about Daily Racing Form
Franklin, NH: Hillside Press, 1963. 28pp. One of 325 copies. Dee was an astrologer, book collector, and mathematician, and a friend of Elizabeth I. Fine in cloth-backed decorated boards. (2 5/16 by 1 15/16; 58x47mm). More about Diary of John Dee
Munich: Waldmann & Pfitzner, (c. 1953). A complete set of four micro-miniatures. The titles of the tiny volumes are "The Lord's Prayer", "I Love You", "Lincoln's Oath of Freedom" and "The Olympic Oath." Each book is bound in leather with silver or gilt tooling, and is in a plexiglass case... More about Die kleinstein Bücher der Welt, in 7 Sprachen (The Smallest Books in the World, in 7 Languages
Franklin, NH: Hillside Press, 1968. xi, 42pp. One of 250 copies. Illustrated throughout with woodcuts replicated from seventeenth-century originals. Very fine in gilt-stamped black morocco. (2 5/16 by 2; 58x51mm). More about The Famous History of Tom Thumb
Worcester: St. Onge, Achille J., 1953. 77pp. One of 2,000 copies. Printed at the Chiswick Press in red and black type. With a black & white frontispiece portrait of the Queen. Bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe in full red morocco, with gilt stamping to covers including double-rule borders. Paste-downs and... More about The Form and Order of the Service that is to be Performed and the Ceremonies that are to be...
Worcester, Massachusetts: St. Onge, Achille J., 1953. 77pp. From an edition of 2,000 copies, this is one of forty-six bound in 1960 with a variant frontispiece portrait of Elizabeth II in profile. Printed at the Chiswick Press in red and black type. Bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe in full red... More about The Form and Order of the Service that is to be Performed and the Ceremonies that are to be...
(N.p. c. 1922). Set of eight cards, printed in red, along with a rules sheet. The cards form a drinking game; all are dealt to a group of eight, and each player must follow the pictorial instruction on the card placed before them. Five cards show a single cocktail, indicating... More about Game of D.W. Griffith's "One Exciting Night"
Ancona: Baluzzi, (1812). 32pp. This attractively printed calendar notes holidays and the dates for the change of seasons. Each month is marked with sunrise times, and the ecclesiastical significance of each day is noted. The almanac closes with four pages of brief guidelines for a happy and virtuous domestic life... More about Giornale per l'anno 1813
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
