By Jack Jeffery
"Miniature Books Today," a traveling exhibit of 125 miniature books, is on display at the Ohio University Visitors Center through Oct. 7. Admission is free.
The exhibit features miniature books in a full spectrum of sizes, shapes, materials, origins and languages. It has toured universities and libraries across North America and is on loan from the Miniature Book Society.
The Visitors Center, located on the corner of South Shafer Street and Richland Avenue, across from the Convocation Center, is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
To be considered a miniature book, the hand-written devotionals and Bibles cannot be any larger than a three-inch square. The smallest of all known miniature books, referred to as a micro-mini, is a quarter-inch by a quarter-inch, approximately the size of a pushpin, according to the Miniature Book Society.
The advent of miniature books dates to the Middle Ages when expensive printing materials forced bookmakers to make the books smaller to save money.
Miniature books continue to be popular even today. Past notable enthusiasts include Queen Elizabeth who published her own collection of prayers in 1570, Abraham Lincoln, who carried a miniature prayer book with him as a lawyer, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was an avid collector, said the society.
