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This Month's Topic: Miniature Books
Offering a carefully curated selection of books for your consideration!
You will also find links to catalogs of additional books on a wide range of subjects.
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The books you want... from booksellers you can trust!
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The Flyleaf: IOBA Newsletter
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June 2017
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This Month: Miniature Books
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"It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important."
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Miniature books are defined in the United States as being 3 inches or less in height, width, or thickness. Micro-miniatures are usually no larger than 1 inch. Why specialize in miniature books? Because they are irresistible. They have been around since 2200 BC and, like larger books, have words and pictures that are meant to be read, seen, and enjoyed (although it helps to have a magnifying glass for some of them.)
Not only have miniature books been published for centuries, but they have also been collected for a while due to their small and portable nature. Napoleon Bonaparte was famous for having a collection of around 1,800 to 2,000 books that he took with him when he traveled.
Miniature books in the middle ages were small so that they could be easily carried or concealed. In more modern times, there have been people who avidly collect miniatures, doll house books, and the "smallest book in the world" titles, for example. There are also many libraries with substantial miniature book collections such as the Huntington Library in California, the Lilly Library at Indiana University, and the University of Virginia Library, among others.
If you are in Oakland on Sunday, August 13th, you will have a chance to see many miniature books at the Book Fair held by the Miniature Book Society at the Oakland Marriott as part of their annual Conclave.
Our guest editor for June:
Kim Herrick
The Book Lair
Pleasanton, CA
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Discovering Miniature Books
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Discovering Miniature Books by Robert F. Hanson
Pu
blisher: Opuscula Press
Place of Publication: Mattituck NY (1978)
Binding: Softcover
Edition: First Edition
Signed by the Author
This is number one hundred and ninety of three hundred and fifty. Miniature. 2 3/4" x 2 1/2". 51pp. Sewn wrappers. Fine in a fine printed paper slipcase. Signed by the author on the limitation.
Available Here.
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Cheever and Updike - Together Again...
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Mites & Other Poems in Miniature
by John Updike
Publisher: Lord John Press
Place of Publication: Northridge CA (1990)
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: First
Signed by Author
Approximately 3" x 2". Quarter cloth and paper covered boards. Copy 98 of 200 numbered copies signed by Updike.
Available here.
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Expelled
by John Cheever
Publisher: Sylvester & Orphanos
Place of Publication: Los Angeles CA (1987)
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: First
Signed by Author, Editor, John Updike (Forward), and Designer
Approximately 2" x 3". Cheever first story, published in The New Republic when he was seventeen, and previously uncollected. This is one of 150 numbered copies (of a total edition of 185). Signed by Cheever, Malcolm Cowley, who originally accepted the story for publication and here writes a foreword, John Updike, who writes the afterword, and Warren Chappell, the designer of this book. Available Here.
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The Chimes: A Goblin Story
by Charles Dickens
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Publisher: Henry Frowde
Place of Publication: London (1906)
Binding: Paperback
One of Dickens' famous Christmas stories, that describes a dream-within-a-dream whereby the reader must choose between the harsh consequences of the behavior of the upper classes in a vision, or the happiness of a wedding.
Available Here.
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The Desert
by Robinson Jeffers
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Publisher: Dawson's Book Shop
Place of publication: Los Angeles (1976)
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: First Separate Edition
First separate edition, second issue; originally published in 1905 in the Occidental Mid-Winter Magazine. Miniature book (2 3/4" x 1 7/8"). Cloth with printed paper label.
Available Here.
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The Citizen of the World
By Oliver Goldsmith
Publisher: Chiswick Press of C. Whittingham
Place of Publication: London (1819)
Binding: Hardcover
Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright and poet, who is best known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), his pastoral poem The Deserted Village (1770), and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man (1768) and She Stoops to Conquer (1771, first performed in 1773).
In 1760, Goldsmith began to publish a series of letters in the Public Ledger under the title The Citizen of the World. Purportedly written by a Chinese traveler in England named Lien Chi. Goldsmith used this fictional outsider's perspective to comment ironically on British society and manners. It was inspired by the earlier essay series Persian Letters by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu. Critics note that this is an early precursor to the modern short story. Available Here.
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A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System
By William Wilberforce
Publisher: Scott, Webster and Geary
Place of Publication: London (1842)
Binding: Hardcover
Engraved portrait of the author as frontispiece, tissue-guarded, and engraved vignette to short title. Rubbing to edges along spine hinge. Book plate (Alfred Willett) to pastedown; Date of November 1844 in brown ink to free endpaper; inscription neatly penned in brown ink to second free endpaper: To Alfred Willet from His Sister Mary Ann. No other markings, no folds or tears.
William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was an English politician, essayist and a leader in the movement to abolish slavery.
Available Here.
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Shaker Herbs: An Essay
by Cynthia Elyce Rubin
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Publisher: Catawba Press
Place of Publication: Northhampton MA (1984)
Binding: Hardcover
The only miniature book printed by Barbara Blumenthal of Catawba Press, the essay has been reprinted with the permission of the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City. The essay starts with a short history of the Shaker religion and their industries, which included agriculture, medicine, seeds, and foodstuffs.
The latter part of the essay details the medicinal properties of the herbs that the Shakers used in their medicinal recipes. A beautiful little book, interspersed throughout with lovely Shaker herb labels for added interest.
Available Here.
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Hamlet and Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
Publisher:
Miniature Dictionary Publishers, Inc.
Place of Publication: New York (circa 1925)
Binding: Hardcover
Flexible red leather gilt in wallet binding with metal snap. A little rubbed, else very near fine. Approximately 2.25" x 1.50".
Available Here.
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Langenscheidt's Lilliput Dictionary: English-Dutch
Publisher: Langenscheidt KG
Place of Publication: Berlin (1956)
Binding: Hardcover
Flexible printed red cloth. Modest wear, a near fine copy. Miniature book, approximately 1.25" x 1.75".
Available Here.
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Abraham Lincoln: The Song in his Heart
by Kenneth Bernard
Publisher:
Achille J. St. Onge
Place of Publication: Worcester (1970)
Binding: Hardcover
Miniature. 1.75" x 2.5". Full green leather gilt. One of 1500 copies.
Available Here.
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The Inaugural Address of Lyndon Baines Johnson
by Lyndon Baines Johnson
Publisher:
Achille J. St. Onge
Place of Publication: Worcester (1965)
Binding: Hardcover
Miniature. 1.75" x 2.5". Full blue leather gilt. One of 2500 copies. LBJ's inaugural speech, written in part by John Steinbeck.
Available Here.
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Burn's Poems
by Robert Burns
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Publisher: Andersons Book
Place of Publication: Edinburgh, Scotland (circa 1920)
Binding: Hardcover
The Thistle Library. Illustrations. 256 pages with a glossary. 48mo; [3.3/8 in tall.]. Red tartan cloth covered boards with gilt front title and emblem. Bindings tight and square. With a matching paper tartan slipcase - open on both ends.
Available Here.
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From the Big Little Book and Better Little Book Series
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Mickey Mouse the Mail Pilot
(The Big Little Book Series)
by Disney
Publisher:
Whitman Publishing
Date of Publication: 1933
Binding: Hardcover
Mickey Mouse must face all sorts of troubles while attempting to deliver air-mail. Front wrapper detached, wrappers creased & rubbed, pages toned, a few illustrations colored in. Available Here.
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Spike Kelly of the Commandos
(The Better Little Book Series)
by Art Elder
Publisher:
Whitman Publishing
Date of Publication: 1943
Binding: Hardcover
Children's book about a war hero with illustrations on every other page. Boards rubbed, pages toned. Pictorial cover.
Available Here.
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An Over Abundance of Goodness
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Who knew that IOBA booksellers had so many miniature books to offer? Rather than let any of them fall off this month's list, we're offering links to those that we just couldn't stuff into the June
Flyleaf. Check them ALL out and enjoy what "little packages" have to offer.
And for fun - and only tangentially related:
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Dealer Catalogues and Varia
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What is IOBA?
The Independent Online Booksellers Association is an international trade organization for internet booksellers that adhere to traditional bookselling standards - wonderful books from professional booksellers.
With members on five continents, IOBA members can be found on venues across the internet, including our own search engine where every bookseller listed is a vetted member of IOBA.
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Why Buy from IOBA Member Booksellers?
As a book buyer, you can have confidence when dealing with a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association.
The books you buy are accurately graded and described by professional booksellers and promptly and safely shipped. Every IOBA member puts you first, pledging to uphold our standard of excellence, per The Book Buyers Bill of Rights.
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