A Collin’s Gem miniature edition of The Universe, a 4 ½ inch book about space by Pam Spence. It’s a great, I can easily imagine it being a full-size coffee table book. Plus, unlike most of my Collin’s Gem books, it’s not even a dictionary!
Tiny little book about Elvis, 2 ¼ inches tall. Published by Andrews McMeel in 1998. I do not know much about Elvis, except that he has many clones living in Vegas.
Edgar Allan Poe, America’s greatest gothic horror author. This 3 ¼ inch Running Press edition published in 2014 contains many short stories and poems, including “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Masque of the Red Death”.
It’s almost a week until Christmas! Here we have a cute little book of Christmas traditions published in 1996 by Rutledge Hill Press, 3 ¾ inches tall. ❄️☃️❄️
“The Recessional”, a book of poems by Rudyard Kipling, published by the Saalfield Publishing Co. It’s just over 3 inches tall, and it’s bound in so-called “ooze” leather, but I can’t figure out what year it’s from. It’s very neat and dainty, and apparently once belonged to Jeane E. Armstrong, whoever that was.
Well, you folks really seemed to like the post I made about Poe, so I thought I’d also share my other miniature books by Poe. These are visually less interesting, but they’re both great editions.
The 2003 Del Prado edition of The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories has 15 full short stories by Poe. It’s 2 ½ inches tall, 1 inch wide, and 640 pages long.
“The Gold Bug”, on the other hand, is a single short story put out by the Little Leather Library ca. 1930, 4 inches tall. The Little Leather Library put out over 100 short stories, poetry collections, and plays, but I have yet to find a complete list of everything they published. I do know they also have Poe’s “The Raven and Other Poems” and “Murders in the Rue Morgue”, though. This particular short story is actually not that spooky- it’s a treasure hunting story that introduces some basic elements of ciphers. Cool!
And for Halloween itself, let’s take a moment to appreciate the ever macabre Edgar Allan Poe!
A little Witches’ Spell Book from Running Press, 3 ¼ inches tall, published in 2013. It has a lovely velvety cover. Most of the spells, alas, seem dubious at best, but it’s probably better not to argue with witches this time of year.
The Selected Tales of E. T. A. Hoffmann, 2 ½ inches tall, published by Del Prado in 2003. E. T. A. Hoffman was an early German gothic fiction writer. Some of his stories would inspire the opera “The Tales of Hoffmann” by Jacques Offenbach. Two of those stories are included in this edition, “The Sand-Man” and “The Cremona Violin”, along with “The Deserted House” and “The History of Krakatuk”. Hoffmann is also know for writing “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”, on which Tchaikovsky’s ballet is based.
I just love the way my little wooden fellow’s poses came out here.
Vampires by Randy Burgess, 3 ¾ inches tall, published in 1996 by Ariel Books. This little book has lots to say about the lore of vampires, the origin of the story, their mythology and their modern(ish) representation. I wonder if a more recent edition of this book would have to cover Twilight? Scary thought!
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, 2 ½ incydent tall, published in 2003 by Del Prado. In this classic ghost story, a governess witnesses how her two wards are haunted by ghosts with vague but evil intents. For all that, not much really happens, and the action just sort of stops at the end without much explanation. I’m sure that’s part of the style, but it just felt kind of unresolved.
Now that I have read more James, I can confirm that it indeed is part of the style and that it’s actually pretty great!
It was a dark and windy September night. Then suddenly, before anyone could see it coming, the minute hand ticked from 11:59 to 00:00, and October flickered into being, grinning madly.
Merry October, everyone! This is the month of Spooky Miniature Books, starting with Del Prado’s The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Published in 2003 at 2 ½ inches tall, this edition presents Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella about a doctor with a Terrible Secret and a strange man that happens to be terrorizing the streets at night. Oddly enough, no one has ever seen them in the same room together- a coincidence, I’m sure.
Today we have some messages for you, in the form of some lovely marbled papers in a book from Kitemaug Press.
“What is the message exactly?” you might ask, well, that is for you to decide! The book even has front labels on both sides, so the message can be read either way.
Bound Japanese style in orange paper wrappers with gilt paper label pasted on both covers (one opposite from the other so it can be read from either direction) with title printed in black ink.–Catalog
This one is for all of the type enthusiasts out there!
Freese walks us through a short history of the use of metal decorative borders that can be used with metal type, with many beautiful examples from different time periods!
“(Illustrations) consist of samples of type borders. Cloth boards, printed paper label pasted on front cover; pink silk endpapers.” –Catalog
