MINIATURE LEAF BOOKS

75 x 50 mm. (3 x 2"). 2 p.l., 23 [1] pp., [1] leaf. Tan paper, with a paper label over a 17th century printed fragment. WITH THREE LEAVES FROM MINIATURE BOOKS: one leaf from the "thumb Bible" "History of the Bible," (New London: W & J Bolles, 1831); one from "The Shakespeare Glossary," (Glasgow: Bryce Stokes, 1904); and one from "Dew-Drops," (New York City: American Tract Society, ca. 1847). With an additional fragment of a larger leaf tipped in at the front. As new. This delightful entirely handmade production features a list of miniature leaf books and three original leaves from miniature books published between 1831-1904. Since the 1970s, our collaborating husband-and-wife book artists Peter and Donna Thomas have been making paper, printing with a hand press, and hand binding books. The present book was assembled between 1997-2005 and then printed, the Thomases humorously tell us, "on a cranky old Pearl treadle press," using Joe Halton's linotype and Neuland types. All paper was handmade by Peter Thomas; as an artistic choice by the bookmakers, the endpapers include fragments of paper from the 1686 book "Keble's Reports," the same work from which the fragments on the cover and frontispiece originate. The three leaves included here provide an excellent representation of the charming miniature books of the 19th century. They include a leaf from a "Thumb Bible," the miniature volumes containing biblical excerpts that enjoyed considerable popularity during the period; a leaf from an "Ellen Terry" book issued by Glasgow printer David Bryce Jr., who produced these books using the relatively new technology of photographic reduction and named them after the most famous actress of the day; and an American example, produced by the non-denominational American Tract Society, which published several miniature religious books through the mid-19th century. This publication is made especially charming by its size, which, of course, is entirely appropriate for the volume's contents.…