The Teeniest book in the library, is now not the teeniest book in the library….

After last weeks post about the tiny Lords Prayer we have in the library, our head of printed books had to out do that, and buy the tiniest mechanically printed book, in the world!

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The leather bound book takes the art of printing and bookbinding to an entirely new dimension of precision.  Renowned German typographer Joshua Reichert especially created a colourful alphabet for this tiny ABC-picture book, exclusively produced in the traditional book city of Leipzig where the idea was originally born.

Measuring 2.4 x 2.9 mm and presented in a wooden box including a magnifying glass, this is the world’s smallest book in a published edition.

The Teeniest book in the library

The Rylands has all manner of books and manuscripts in all sorts or sizes. We’ve had the giant Koran here before, weighing in at 52KG, we have some rather beautiful Book of Hours, palm sized manuscripts (in this case belonging to Mary Queen of Scots) that are beautifully illuminated. But what about something smaller?

How about this, The Lords Prayer, in 7 different languages, measuring around 5mm by 5mm. Nothing can actually be printed that small I hear you say? Well, below is the above book, under a 10x magnification loupe.

Printed in the 50′s in Germany, the book was obviously not intended to be used for anything serious, perhaps just as an example of the current printing technology at the time.