Miniature Books
The earliest miniature books were produced primarily
for
personal convenience, to be carried in waistcoat pockets and
ladies' reticules. As their popularity increased, the variety of
texts expanded and, by the eighteenth century, included titles for
children. The tiny volumes became exercises in printing and binding
techniques.
Early American miniature books mirror their larger
contemporaries: the texts are moral, the bindings plain. The
majority of the volumes in the American Antiquarian Society's
collection contain works of a religious nature. Of the 156
American editions of thumb Bibles cited by Ruth Elizabeth Adomeit
in her Three Centuries of Thumb Bibles: A Checklist (New York and
London, 1980), the Society holds approximately one hundred
examples, dating from 1765. The early examples of these
abridgements of the Bible for children are in verse and, like the
New England Primer, many of the same verses were included year
after year. Similarly, the patriotic gesture was made in 1798 when
Lower and Jones of Philadelphia dedicated their version "to his
excellency G. Washington, President of the United States of
America." A considerable number of the copies are worn and
incomplete, mute testimony to hard use.
Several of the volumes came with the bequest of d'Alté A. Welch,
and
Miss Adomeit added to the collection before her death. Her generous
endowed acquisition fund continues to support the purchase of miniature
books and pre-1851 children's books.
All was not completely serious in the world of American
miniature books. Songsters, hymnals, almanacs, and histories vied
with entertaining and instructive texts. Tom Thumb's Play-Book,
with Thomas's own inscription, "Printed by I. Thomas when
A "prentice in 1764, for A. Barclay," is one of the Society's most
valued miniatures. An educational title is The Book of Nouns,
published in Philadelphia by J. Johnson in 1802. London in
Miniature: with 47 Engravings of Its Public Buildings and
Antiquities and Costumes of Different Nations, in Miniature were
published in New York by Samuel Wood and Sons in 1816 and 1817.
The familiar rhyme of The Adventures of Mother Hubbard and Her
Dog was published in Albany in 1822 by G. J. Loomis & Co. and is
found here in the original blue wraps.
Gen. Cass' Letter to the Harbor and River Convention
(Chicago, 1848) and Life and Services of Gen. Pierce (Concord,
1852) are two gems of political satire. Miniatures produced by
Frank Ellison of Waltham include An Account of a Trip to the Sea
Shore Made in the Year 1857, and A Journal of a Trip Down East,
Aug. 1858, a rare sporting miniature. Ellison kept a daily record
of the weather for 1858-60 and printed miniature almanac pamphlets
of meteorological tables and notes for the years. All of these may
be seen at AAS.
A small group of twentieth-century miniatures is included in
the collection. These consist of reprints of earlier titles and
new titles, where the text is of historical interest. Among these
are fourteen volumes produced by the late Achille J. St. Onge of
Worcester.
There are approximately 350 miniature books in the Society's
collection. They are shelved in chronological sequence by date of
publication. Over the years, the size for inclusion in the collection
has been arbitrary, with some volumes measuring over 3 1/2
inches in height. Current policy is to limit the height of most new
additions to 75mm, or slightly less than 3 inches.
While there is no subject access to miniature books, there is
a checklist of the entire collection, which is in two sections--an
alphabetical listing by title and a chronological listing by date
of publication. d'Alté A. Welch's A Bibliography of American
Children's Books Printed Prior to 1821 (Worcester, 1972), contains
some miniature editions and is annotated for AAS holdings, as is
the Adomeit bibliography of thumb Bibles.
A new publication, Robert C. Bradbury's Antique United States
Miniature Books, 1690-1900 ( No. Clarendon, Vt., 2001) was
compiled from the books in collections of the Society and of the Lilly
Library.
There are also some miniature books in the Childrens' Literature
and Almanacs collections.
- Carolyn A. Allen, former Acquisitions Administrator; revised by
S.J. Wolfe, Senior Cataloger
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A Father's Legacy to His Daughters, published by Charles Wells
in New
York City, ca. 1836-1847; reprint of Dr. John Gregory's book, first
published in Great Britain.
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For current information on the cataloging status of this and
other AAS collections, choose "Collection Access" below.
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