A miniature book is a very small book, sized from .5 inches square to roughly 2 by 3 inches—no larger than 3 inches in height, width or thickness. These books became more popular in the last few decades of the 19th century because they were portable and easy to conceal. One could carry a vast number of books in a small case for when one travelled. Many are bound in fine Moroccan leather, gilt and contain excellent examples of woodcuts, etchings, and watermarks. More popular topics at that time were dictionaries, language translators, religious stories and readings, and, occasionally, tourist guides.

Subjects range from the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

, encyclopedias, music, stories, rhymes, famous speeches, and the miniaturization of well-known books such as The Compleat Angler, The Art of War

The Art of War

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise that is attributed to Sun Tzu , a high ranking military general and strategist during the late Spring and Autumn period...

, and novels about Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

. Many are now collectors' items, with prices ranging from a few hundred to many thousands of US dollars.

Notable miniature books originally designed to be miniature

• Art in Miniature, by Margaret Hicks
  Margaret Hicks
  Margaret Turner Hicks was a world-renowned producer and promoter of Miniature Art.Favoring representational art, Hicks painted landscapes and still lifes and the occasional portrait, using small brushes and a magnifying glass to achieve a high level of detail in paintings that were often just 2 to...
  
  
• Peter and Donna Thomas Good Book Press
  Good Book Press
  The Good Book Press was a fine press book publisher, founded in 1977 by Peter and Donna Thomas of Santa Cruz, California. The proprietors produced the books by hand. Peter R. Thomas made the paper and Donna Thomas illustrated the books predominately with linoleum cuts. The Thomases handset the...
  
  
• The tiny books of Ian & Helen Macdonald's private press (The Gleniffer Press 1968-2007) The Gleniffer Press

External links

• Indiana University Lilly Library, 4000 Years of Miniature Books, online exhibition
• The Miniature Book Society
• The Gleniffer Press
• Miniature Book Press (Germany)
• Collection of Miniature Books at the McCune Collection Libros de exposición