Top 10 smallest books in the world – incredible records

On the shelves of bookstores, we can find both heavy tomes and small books. Their format may vary. The smallest books in the world are miniatures. A fan of miniature books was Napoleon Bonaparte, who during his military campaigns carried his Miniature Traveler’s Library, it was placed in a special leather case and looked like one big book. L.I. also had his own collection. Brezhnev, he kept it in his desk.

The production of mini-books required special skill, so they were always published in a small edition. In Russia, such a book block should not exceed 100 mm, and in some European countries and the USA other figures appear – 3 inches, i.e. 76 mm.

The very first printed Russian miniature book was “The Saints” by Vasily Burtsov, which appeared in 1639 and was 71x97mm in size. Most of the miniature books are valuable copies, examples of the art of book publishing, namely printing, illustration and binding.

10 Jeanne d’Evre table book, 60×90 mm

Jeanne d’Evreux was the daughter of Louis of France and became Queen of France in 1325 after she married Charles IV the Handsome. Her husband ordered to make a miniature book for his wife.

Handbook of Jeanne d’Evreux placed in leather binding. It has 418 pages. It closes with metal clasps. The cover and spine are elegantly embossed with gold. The book contains 25 color illustrations, also illuminated with gold.

The Book of Hours is now kept in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was made by Jean Pucelle from the finest parchment. It is he who is credited with the discovery of the grisaille technique, thanks to which the pages of the manuscripts turned into real works of art.

In the 19th century, the book belonged to the Rothschilds, first to Adolf, then to his nephew Maurice. In 1940, the Germans confiscated this valuable book and sent it to Germany. But in 1948 it was returned to its owner, who in 1954 gave it to the museum.

9. Book by Bokcardino and Stefano di Tommaso Giovanni, 40×50 mm

Lorenzo de’ Medici was a Florentine statesman, patron of the arts and sciences. He married Claric Orsini. This significant event took place in 1469. A wedding gift from his uncle, Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici, was a miniature made by father and son. Boccardino and Stefano di Tommaso Giovanni.

This book is also bound in leather and can be closed with a silver lock. Each of the pages is decorated with a beautiful patterned ornament, it contains many sheets with drawings, in total it contains 157 pages.

It was placed in a velvet case with golden corners. It was accompanied by a magnifying glass in a silver frame, 4 cm in diameter. This unique work of art is kept at the University of Cambridge, in the Fitzwilliam Museum.

8. “Diurnaly”, 65×94 mm, 1468

The earliest surviving printed miniature is “Diurnaly”, printed in tiny gothic type. It was made by a student of Gutenberg, the first typographer in Europe, he created a special way of printing with movable type. It had a huge impact on world history and European culture.

Peter Schaeffer was not only his student, but also the successor of the business, and he was able to create this work of art. Only fragments of this book have survived to our time, which are now stored in Paris, in the National Library.

7. “South Russian publishing house F.A. Ioganson” 55×73 mm, 1981

Before the revolution, first in St. Petersburg, then in Kyiv, there lived a publisher, a bookseller, Franz Ioganson. In 1896 appeared “South Russian publishing house F.A. Ioganson”, which produced both fiction, teaching aids, and calendars.

It was it that first began to publish miniature books, as many as three series of the “Baby” manual were released. It was reference literature, dictionaries, teaching aids, which were immediately sold out. They had an original and convenient format, they were impeccable in terms of printing, so they were constantly reprinted.

It was Joganson who for the first time in Russia began to produce mini-books in mass circulation: about 120 books were published, the total circulation of which amounted to 2 million copies.

6. “Eugene Onegin”, 17×26 mm, 1899

In the 19th century, the Warsaw publisher M. Scholz was known. In the printing house of P. Laskauer and V. Babitsky, he printed miniature books from zincographic forms. They were a kind of decoration, because. placed inside a medallion made of silver or brass. A lens was built into the front cover.

M. Scholz published many miniature books, including the Torah, the Koran, poetry, etc. But not so many copies have survived to our time, because. books of this size could easily get lost.

A great rarity is the anniversary edition of A.S. Pushkin, which became the smallest of all published books. It was printed in honor of the centenary of the birth of the great poet.

Also, like other books of this publisher, his “Eugene Onegin” was placed in a medallion with a “secret”, and it could be read using a special lens placed in one of the sides.

5. “Old King Cole” 1×1 mm, 1985

Thanks to modern technologies, it was possible to create books that could not even be dreamed of before, for example, 1 mm in size. The first such record-breaking book appeared in 1985 in Scotland. Not only to read, but also to make out it is quite difficult. You won’t be able to turn the pages of a book unless you have a needle handy, but even then you have to be careful not to damage the tiny edition.

The thickness of the paper of this book is 22 g / m2, the fairy tale “Old King Cole“. There are not so many owners of this unique edition, because. It was published in a modest edition of 90 pieces.

4. Chameleon, A. Konenko 0,9x*0,9 mm, 2002

One of the record holders, once entered in the Guinness Book of Records, is a miniature edition, less than 1 mm in size. Our compatriots worked on it, the Omsk publishing house Siberian Lefty, whose specialization is the creation of miniature books.

It was printed story by A.P. Chekhov “Chameleon”, the Omsk artist Anatoly Kononenko is considered the creator. The publishing house issued 50 copies in Russian and the same number in English. Each book contains a portrait of Chekhov, 15 sheets and 2 color illustrations. Each page of the book contains 11 lines of text. One of the copies can be seen in the Museum of Miniatures, located in Prague.

3. “Flowers of four seasons” 0,74×0,75 mm, 2013

The Japanese, who are proud of their technology, decided to overtake the Russians, and created a book a little smaller in size, which was called “Flowers of the four seasons“. Toppan Printing was engaged in its manufacture, which spent more than 8 months on it. On its pages there are images of all the colors of Japan with signatures, but not in color, but in black and white, in total 22 pages. The size of the letters is 0,01 m in height; it will not work to make out the image without a special magnifying glass. To create the book, technology was used that is used to create money.

2. “Little Tad from the city of Turnip”, Chaplin brothers, 70×100 microns, 2012

There are books that can only be read with a microscope. One of them, “Little Tad from Turnip”, was printed on a single-crystal silicon chip, it can only be read with a powerful electron microscope, this mini-book is placed on a section of a human hair. To fill 30 pages of the book, I had to pay 15 thousand dollars.

1. “Lefty”, Vladimir Aniskin, 70×90 microns, 2016

However, the Russian scientist Vladimir Aniskin from Novosibirsk made a record-breaking small book. He spent 5 years to invent a special technology and create this miniature, and then a month, manually, he created books. One of them – “Lefty”, written by N. Leskov, and the second is the alphabet.