Miniature Book Society Newsletter, Number 71, July 2006 Page: 20
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city of Umma.
During the middle ages, and
prior to the invention of printing
from movable type about 1450, most
books were written by hand on vel-
lum. Illuminated manuscripts were
embellished with ornamented ini-
tials and other designs, and some-
times paintings - called miniatures -
were used to decorate and illustrate
the text. Fine medieval manuscripts
are scarce, manuscripts containing
miniatures are scarcer still, and
miniature manuscripts with fine
miniatures are extraordinarily rare.
The illumination you see here is
from a 16th century Book of Hours,
illuminated by the celebrated
Flemish artist Simon Benning. It
measures just under 3 2" tall. The
scene is of the Visitation showing the
Virgin Mary and St. Elizabeth with a
Flemish manor house in the back-
ground.
This manuscript is known as the
Capricorn Hours because of the goat
emblem carved into the brown horn
on both covers. In July, 2000, this
extraordinary item sold at Sotheby's
in London for an amazing $3 million,
930 thousand. Obviously, it's not in
my collection.
Incunabula refers to books print-
ed before 1501, in the half-century
after the printing of the Gutenberg
Bible, and is considered to be the
infancy or cradle period of printing.
Over 38,000 incunabula are known
to have existed, mostly in folio or
quarto sizes, and less than 50 were
known in miniature. The earliest
known miniature is an Officium
Beatae Mariae Virginis published in
Venice by Nicholas Jenson in 1475
and measured only 2 /4" high.
My earliest printed book is this
New Testament, printed in 1660 -
that's four and a half centuries ago
- by Jeremiah Rich in London - the
entire text is in shorthand, and it's
quite rare.
Some say that miniature printed
books - as we know them today -
20 Miniature Book News July 2006originated so that travelers could
carry them in their pocket. Others
believe that as books were quite pre-
cious, small books were more easily
packed away and protected. Then,
there is the theory that they were
easily hidden away in the days when
certain classes were forbidden to
have books. The answer? Take your
pick.
Personally, I hold to the theory
that they simply demonstrate the
printers' skills and abilities - and the
craftsman's desire to produce some-
thing unique, notable and out of the
ordinary. Who doesn't admire small
things, of whatever nature?
The literature about the subject
began appearing in 1879. Other than
the claim that Napoleon owned a
collection of miniature books that
reportedly numbered about 2000
titles, serious collecting began in the
1920s and thereafter. Publication of
miniature books escalated and many
of those books brought prominence
to their authors, illustrators, printers,
binders and publishers.
Major collections have been built
by many well-known public figures
-- most notably Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Stanley Marcus of Neiman-Marcus
(who became a leading publisher of
high-quality miniature books), and
lawyer Whitney North Seymour of
Watergate fame.
But perhaps the most impressive
collection of 20th century miniature
books is in Queen Mary's Dolls'
House, a 40-room palace depicting
how a king and queen of England
lived in the early 20th century.
Inside is a wonderful and
unique library. The greater part of
the literature was commissioned
from living artists, either a selection
from their published works or com-
pletely new works published only
for this unique and priceless library.
These books are manuscripts -
often in the author's handwriting.
171 famous authors of the time were
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Miniature Book Society. Miniature Book Society Newsletter, Number 71, July 2006, periodical, July 2006; Ohio. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc28038/m1/20/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.