Booksby Press

06/19/2024

All 25 copies of "Trees" are complete now. This is copy B in its box for your viewing pleasure. It has been an incredible journey that I'm glad I was able to take with Andrea Boltresz.

06/18/2024

They're not quite finished yet, I need to title the spines and assemble the trays to the covers, but I'm just so pleased with how these boxes are turning out that I had to share them right now. This then is the (almost) finished deluxe copies of Trees by Joyce Kilmer.

06/17/2024

Pumping Iron...

Some bindery tasks are more glamorous than others. While I love working with leather, silk, and gemstones, sometimes it's just printable cotton. Here I am applying heat to set the ink on some covers for our as-yet unannounced printed cover edition of Trees (more about this later). At any rate, it takes two minutes at the highest heat setting to make the ink from my ink jet printer permanent. I had to stand over the hot iron for the two minutes per cover, the least you could do is watch me doing it. 😂

05/29/2024

Today I'd like to introduce you to our REM Miniatures coffee mug in honor of the many contributions by Robert Massmann to the miniature book world. Bob was so many things: collector, publisher, author, researcher, but most of all (for me at least), inspiration. The mug features an almost complete run of books Bob published between 1962 and 2009.

https://booksbypress.com/product/rem-miniatures-mug/

In addition, we have a nice selection of REM Miniatures books at our Catalogs site, so bop on over and find something you can't live without.

https://catalogs.booksbypress.com/product-category/rem-miniatures/

05/28/2024

Today we'll jet past Iguana Press's 1 entry, Imprentas Gloria's 2 entries, and Impressions Press's 4 entries to take a look at one of the six publishers of the Miniature Book Renaissance, James Lamar Weygand and his Press of the Indiana Kid.

James Lamar Weygand of Nappanee, Indiana started the Press of the Indiana Kid in 1944, focusing on full sized books of Indiana interest. He produced his first miniature book in 1963 and went on to publish a total of 24 miniature books by 1995. He did it all. Papermaking, printing on a Chandler and Price 8×12 platen press, and binding. Of the 24 books he produced, Booksby has four examples.

"Voyage Aboard the Jupiter" was published in 1967. Bound in marbled paper boards with gilt leather spine, it measures 2⅝"×1⅞" and contains 38 pages. It was an edition of 100

"Papers of Eastern Europe" is bound in pictorial paper boards with a gilt leather spine. Measuring 2⅝"×2⅛", it has 13 samples of toilet paper Weygand collected on a trip through Eastern Europe in 1970. The text is quite comical, and is one of my favorite miniature books. 65 copies.

"Money to Burn" came out in 1972 in an edition of 100. Bound in pictorial paper boards, it measures 2⅝"×2" and has 24 pages. It discusses what happens to US currency after its past its useful lifespan. Includes an envelope of shredded money residue bound in.

"Bewick Connection Measures 2¹¹/¹⁶"×1⅞" with 36 pages bound in paper boards with a pictorial paper label. An edition of 40.

Photo of JLW courtesy Bradbury's 20th Century U. S. Miniature Books.

Next time we'll take a look at the Intermittent Press.

05/27/2024

So here is the long awaited new project in its box. This is the first proof copy so it has several small flaws that will be fixed before the edition of 50 goes into production. It's "The Microbibliophile 100+" a bibliography of 159 miniature books about miniature books. Each of the three volumes measures 2⅝"×2⅛" and contain a total of 376 pages. The individual volumes are bound in gilt brown bonded leather with marbled paper boards. Text by James Brogan. All housed in a pictorial box.

Look for the release sometime in July or August.

Oh, if you love the marbled papers you can contact the marbler here:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554799603143&mibextid=ZbWKwL

05/25/2024

I'm sitting in a taco joint having dinner before walking down to Severance Hall to hear Mozart's Gran Partita but I just ant help myself. I reach into my pocket of books and pull out this... It's a 1885 edition of "Imitation de Jésus-Christ" published by A. Mame et Fils of Tours, France measuring 2⅞" tall. While the gilt leather binding is lovely, the outstanding feature of this common title is the hidden fore edge painting depicting a street scene with the cathedral of Notre Dame in the background.

I haven't forgotten about the new Booksby publication. I have photos that I'm waiting to share till after the author has had a chance to see them.

05/25/2024

I'm busy in the bindery preparing proof copies of a 3 volume boxed set I'm working on (I'll share photos of that when they're done) but I thought I'd take a break to share some of my children's boxed sets. These all date from the 1930s or 40s and are from England and Denmark. I've written about one or two of these sets before but I'd like to do more in depth posts for all of them another day. In the meantime, please enjoy this group of survivors. ☺️

05/23/2024

It was 9 years ago today I got the inspiration for the "Todd's Tiny Tales" series of keepsakes. The first in the series, "A Dumb Question?" went in the keepsake bag in Amsterdam back in 2015 and the most recent, "Bill the Storyteller will be going to Los Angeles this August. It is comforting to see some parts of my life have vern so consistent over the past decade. Natalie, whom I met in September 2014 is still saving miniature books for me. I still speak occasionally with Carol, the originator of the quote "book people are just nice." I still write articles for Jim and his Microbibliophile magazine. It was Jim who wanted to read the stories in the faux book that made me think I better start writing some.

05/21/2024

Today we'll pass by the Hurdy-Gurdy Press with four entries and visit awhile with Henry Hurly of Hurly Books.

Henry Hurly has been selling antiquarian books for decades in Westmoreland, New Hampshire as well as online. He also published two miniature books, both of which reside on the shelves at Booksby.

The first is "A Thought on Book-Binding by Herman Melville. It measures 2¹/¹⁶"×2¹³/¹⁶" and contains 14 pages. It is pamphlet bound in gilt marbled paper wrappers. While the colophon calls for 350 copies, less than 100 were made due to a cutting error.

The second book is "The Propagation of the Musical Art Assisted & Advanced by the Feline world" by Hugh Morist. This humorous tale of cats screeching in the night measures 2¾"×2⅛" and contains 16 pages. It is in paper boards with a printed label. 200 copies of this charming book were made.

I had the pleasure of meeting Harry at my very first Conclave in 2014, but not knowing exactly who he was did not spend too much time with him. I have bought books from him via the internet over the years and he still comes up with some surprising books occasionally.

Next time we'll take a look at the Press of the Indiana Kid.

05/20/2024

HELP! This came in recently but it has no publication information, other than an edition limitation. It measures 2"×2" and has 6 accordion fold pages between marbled paper boards. On one side it says' "This way home through the woods LSE" in a copper colored ink. The other side has a series of different arrows printed in the same ink. The text side has in pencil a signature I cannot read and the limitation: 14/60. Is there anyone here familiar with this book or signature that could fill in some of the details for me? TIA

05/17/2024

Just added a couple of special books to the website, both bound by L. G. Challenger of London in the 1960s.

https://catalogs.booksbypress.com/product/the-history-of-little-goody-two-shoes/

https://catalogs.booksbypress.com/product/the-haunted-man-and-the-ghosts-bargain/

05/15/2024

I just updated the new website with a group of Hillside Press books. You can find them all here:

https://catalogs.booksbypress.com/product-category/hillside-press/

While you're there, check out all the other publishers now represented.

05/12/2024

Today we'll spend a little time at the Press in Hugus Alley for

The Press in Hugus Alley was the press name of engraving artist Anthony F. Kroll in Altadena, California. He produced three miniature books between 1981 and 1985, all of them quite scarce.

In 1981 he printed 10 copies of "Santa Cruz Island and the Chapel of the Holy Cross by Msgr. Weber for his friend Dr. Carey Stanton. The book measures 2⅛"×1¹¹/¹⁶" and contains 18 pages. Bound by Bela Blau in gilt white leather, it has on its front cover a gold plated ficha. I have seen other copies bound in paper without the ficha.

Next up was edited by Msgr. Weber, "A Letter of Junipero Serra..." published in 1984 in an edition of 25. It is 2½"×1¾" with 14 pages in engraved paper boards.

The last miniature book to come out of Hugus Alley is "Venerable Fra Junipero Serra..." written by Kroll himself. It measures 2⅝"×2" with 14 pages. Printed and bound by Richard Hoffman in 1985, with engravings by Bernhardt Wall.

Next time we'll take look at Hurley Books.

05/10/2024

Today's book is perhaps the most charming of the many charming miniature books Marcilly published in the 1820s. "La Petite Voliere" (the little avairy) was printed by Pinard of Paris. Measuring 2⅜"×1¾" and bound in pictorialpaper boards, it has 88 pages with 7 hand colored plates (including the engraved title page).

05/01/2024

Today is the grand opening for Booksby Press Catalogs, our new online miniature book catalog site. To mark the occasion we're offering a 15% discount off everything on both sites.

Achille J. St. Onge was the preeminent miniature book publisher of the 20th century. Between 1935 and 1977 he produced 47 miniature books of the highest quality, and that are still considered the gold standard for miniature books today. We currently have 24 of his beguiling books available here:

https://catalogs.booksbypress.com/product-category/st-onge/

From the St Onge page you can navigate to all publishers that include over 200 books. Prices range from $5 to $500 so there's something for everyone.

So bop on over and take advantage of the sale that only runs through this Sunday. ☺️

And don't forget to check out all the fine Booksby Press and reference books available at:

https://booksbypress.com/

04/27/2024

There's a lot going on at Booksby right now. I'm finishing up the layout work on the largest book I've worked on to date. A bibliography of miniature books about miniature books will have 372 pages in three volumes. Look for the boxed set to be offered this summer. I'm finishing up the final five deluxe copies of Trees (photos withheld till completed). The biggest project, however, has been setting up Booksby Press's sister website, Booksby Press Catalogs. Catalogs offers all manner of miniature books not published by Booksby Press. We currently have available a selection of 150+ books ranging from a 19th century micro-miniature book to a custom bound 40 volume Shakespeare to modern small press books to a selection of newer Running Press books and kits. You can find it all here now: https://catalogs.booksbypress.com/

The pages grand opening will be Wednesday May 1st and will include a 15% off sale on both sites, so hop on over and see what you can't live without. I'll be adding more books as time allows so check back often and you may just find that one book you've been looking for forever.

04/19/2024

Things have been busy at Booksby lately, so I just haven't taken the time to post. I have some big announcements to make including new books and a new website, but for now here are some of the lovely bindings Josephina Diez made for Ward Schori, and their title pages.

In the meantime, here's the link to the new website where I'll be offering miniature books not published by the Booksby Press. If you take a look I'd love your feedback. ☺️



https://catalogs.booksbypress.com/

04/06/2024

Today's publisher is Richard J. Hoffman. Between 1979 and 1988 Richard Hoffman produced at least 8 miniature books under his own name or under the Columbian 415 Chappel name. Columbian 415 Chappel was the name of a group of printing students that would meet at Hoffman's home for food, conversation, and printing. My good friend John Howell wrote an excellent article on Hoffman several years ago so I'll let him give you all the details in the link provided below.

I will, however mention the two Hoffman books at booksby. The first is not listed in Bradbury. It was a keepsake printed by the Chappel as an invitation to the members of the MBS to a meeting at Hoffman's home during the 3rd Conclave. It consists of a single 7½"×8" fold-out sheet in printed paper wraps. When closed it measures 2½"×2". The second book is "Angel's Flight, Los Angeles Funicular Railway" by Msgr. Francis Weber and published in 1988. This one really shows Hoffman's mastery of the craft. From the printed paper covers to the two page title, foldout photo of the railway,, and impeccable handset type, you get an idea of what a privilege it was to study under him. Another thing I find interesting is the railway ticket in the back that notes "one ride if presented with book."

Next time we'll take a look at Press in Hugus Alley.

The photo of Richard Hoffman comes from the ABAA website and John's article.

https://www.abaa.org/blog/post/richard-hoffman-prolific-pioneering-printer

03/17/2024

Even a power outage doesn't stop the books from being made at Booksby. This is the 2024 keepsakes being made with the help of an LED flashlight. 😂

03/13/2024

Here is an interesting and beautiful series of macro-miniature books that I am slowly discovering.

I currently have five books, all similar, published jointly by Ernest Nister in London and E. P. Dutton in New York. They all measure 3-3/16"×2-9/16" and contain inspirational texts printed in red and black made to look like medieval manuscripts, and several beautiful chromolithographs each. While typographically they are similar, they are bound in two different designs: debossed and printed cloth or gilt and blind tooled leather.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a series name or title list for them, so I am compiling a title list as I find them. One interesting note is that each one has a number at the bottom of the title page that seems to be a part number. They are not dated but two of these have holographic dates of 1918 and 1919 so I'm assuming that is close to their publication date.

If you have any other titles in this beautiful series or have any documentation for them I'd love to know more. ☺️

03/10/2024

Just a quick photo to show you what I'm doing this wintery Sunday afternoon. Here are 203 covers partially completed for my 2024 keepsake. This one is a little more involved than past keepsakes in that not only is there a die-cut on the cover, but the title will be in gilt, a first for my keepsakes.

03/09/2024

I was perusing PBA's site looking for miniature books this morning, and came across a listing for a lot of 30 books published by Poems-For-All (PfA), reminding me of an envelope I recieved several years ago from the publisher.

My story with PfA began in October 2019 when I met my now friend, Eileen Tabios on the MBS page. She had posted some miniature poetry books published by PfA of her poetry that caught my attention so I started a conversation with her. I thought I might have heard of the publisher before but couldn't remember so she offered to send me a few of her poems. She also told me about Bob Hansen (not to be confused with Bob Hanson of Opuscula press and founder of The Microbibliophile magazine) and his philosophy for PfA. He printed thousands of miniature poetry books but never sold a single one, preferring to give them away, hence the name, Poems for All. He used them like Gospel tracts, leaving them in restaurant washrooms and bookshops around San Diego, and handing them to anyone who would accept them. The idea fascinated me so I contacted Bob with the intention of writing an article about his incredible miniature book activities. He was a kind man and was looking forward to PfA reaching a new audience, so he sent me "a few" samples of his books for me to examine, then I'd interview him. I was not expecting "a few" to mean over 180 miniature books and cards, and I was overwhelmed! I set the envelope on a shelf intending to get back to it in a week or two to write my article, but quickly forgot about it. Then the pandemic came and changed everything. I completely forgot about the kindness of Bob till I read of his untimely passing November 13, 2022. I was deeply regretful that I missed my opportunity to do a proper interview of a most interesting, kind, and generous man, so I didn't even bother to take the envelope off the shelf.

Being so reminded once again by the PBA listing, I've finally decided to spend a little time with this fascinating piece of miniature book history. It turns out that because of their ephemeral nature and the gorilla manner in which they were disseminated, they're not so easy to find, and command respectable prices when they do come to auction. Between 2001 and 2022 Bob published over 2,000 different miniature poetry books. While he was alive he maintained a website that listed all of them, but unfortunately the site has since gone away along with the list. If anyone has a complete list of Poems for All books, I'd deeply appreciate a copy.

EDIT: After rewatching a video of Bob talking about the PfA books, there are a couple of corrections I need to make to this post. First, he was located in Sacramento, not San Diego. Second, he was a shy man and did not pass out the books to people, but did leave them laying wherever he went. Here's that video if you'd like a watch:

https://youtu.be/rRcbl4Mk9fM?si=Sc6-Wj6fNLvuHRyE

Here then is a photo of the contents of the envelope I recieved 3½ years ago, the lovely illustrated note from Bob, and the first PfA books I received from Eileen, and her note. Once I process this all I'll share more about the individual books and their authors.

03/07/2024

I'm exhausted tonight so here's a bunch of pics of fine miniature bindings I was just discussing with a friend with no description. Enjoy! ☺️

03/06/2024

Today we have something different. It's "Please" By Edith Flack Ackley and her daughter Telka.

"Please" was first published by Fredrick A. Stokes of New York in 1941 and then published by Collins of Glasgow sometime after. It measures 6"×5⅛" and has 12 pages, and tells the story of a little girl learning to use her manners. Now "Please" is nothing like miniature. That all changes though when you get to page 11 where you find a pocket containing the miniature book "A Story About ___________". It measures2¼"×1⅞" and contains 12 pages. It is meant to be personalized by the parents for their child.

"Please" has proven difficult to find, and is somewhat costly today, but even harder to find is the companion book, "Thank You" about a little boy learning to use his manners.

03/02/2024

Today we'll take a look at the Hillside Press.

Hillside Press was the press name of Frank and Eleanor Irwin of Franklin NH and later Buffalo NY. Between 1961 and 1987 they produced 65 miniature books. Hillside was the second of six Renaissance publishers along with Black Cat, Dawson's, Ward Schori, REM Miniatures, and Press of the Indiana Kid. Eleanor made the last 14 books by herself, after Frank's death in 1980.

The 23 Hillside books on the shelf at Booksby show one of the outstanding features of this presses output, the uniformity of size and design of all 65 books. Each one measures 2⅜"×2" and are bound in either cloth or leather. The subject matter is quite diverse, with books of poetry, children's stories, the history of printing, and early American politics among others. Many were illustrated with a few being hand colored. Shown are the 23 books at Booksby, Whirligig ID, their first book, the one Francis Weber book by Hillside, and several lovely hand colored illustrations from the book, "Stars Tonight".

Next time we'll take a quick look at Richard J. Hoffman.

03/01/2024

Ok, so about a year ago I was going through some Little Little Golden Books I had in inventory when out of one dropped a round miniature Spider-Man comic book. I'd never seen one before, so I posted about it. A friend, on seeing the post, did a little research and found out that there were four mini comic books inside jars of Peter Pan peanut butter way back in 1994. Armed with this knowledge I began a casual search for the three I did not have. I was able to find two of them on eBay which I bought, but that fourth one proved to be elusive at a price I considered reasonable, so I went on to other things. Well, last weekend I found myself on Mercari when low and behold, there was that fourth mini comic, and at the lowest price I'd ever seen. I of course snatched it right up and anxiously awaited it's arrival.

I was expecting a small envelope with maybe an index card to give it some stability, but no, when I retrieved it from my mailbox I was surprised to see a small box weighing much more that a 2⅛" comic book should. I was stunned by what was in the box. Inside was a topic specific card that thanked me for my purchase and noted that my mini comic was inside a peanut butter jar Inside the included folder. The folder did indeed have a paper peanut butter jar that contained my factory sealed comic, but there was so much more. Behind the jar was a stack of Spider-Man coloring pages. On the other side was an envelope with a ton of Spider-Man related stickers, all home made and very well done. The seller (her name is Angelique) obviously loves what she's doing and goes to great lengths to make buying from her a special experience, proving yet again what my friend Carol has been telling me for almost 40 years now, "Book people are just nice!" 🥰

02/24/2024

Booksby definitely needs this...

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/SxviyMKwCobigShN/?mibextid=ZbWKwL

Dieses Miniaturbuch aus dem 2. Jahrhundert, gefunden in der slowenischen Stadt Ptuj, dem römischen Poetovio, besteht aus fünf Knochentäfelchen zwischen Elfenbeindeckeln. Die beiden Deckel sind leicht gewölbt und auf der Innenseite eingetieft. Auch die Knochentäfelchen besitzen eine Vertiefung, die zur
Aufnahme von Wachs gedacht war. Die doppelten Paare von Löchern entlang eines der Ränder zeigen, dass die Tafeln mit Schnur oder Draht miteinander verbunden waren. Die „Seiten“ weisen Spuren von Linien auf, die das Schreiben erleichtern sollten. Die Wahl des Materials und die Größe des Buches deuten darauf hin, dass es sich um einen teuren und geschätzten Besitz handelte.

Knochen, Elfenbein
H. 4,6 cm
Ptuj, Zgornja Hajdina
2. Jahrhundert
Ptuj - Regionalmuseum Ormož, Inventarnummer R-0012805
Foto: © Tomaž Lauko, National Museum of Slovenia.

Das Archäologische Museum Frankfurt zeigt bis 17. März 2024 die Sonderausstellung "Tweets from the past. Archäologie Sloweniens – Klänge, Symbole und älteste Schriftzeugnisse" als Partner des Kulturprogramms der Frankfurter Buchmesse, großzügig unterstützt vom Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain.
https://archaeologisches-museum-frankfurt.de/de/ausstellungen/tweets-from-the-past

Die Slowenischen Tage bieten Ihnen exklusive Vorträge von slowenischen Archäologinnen und Archäologen. Sie kommen von den an »Tweets from the Past« beteiligten Museen und stellen in den Pausen zwischen den Vorträgen ihre persönlichen Lieblingsstücke in der Sonderausstellung vor.

Die Themen am 28. Februar 2024, 17 bis 21 Uhr:
Archaeology of the Soča Valley
Mag. Miha Mlinar, Tolmin Museum

Prehistoric settlement of Most na Soči
Dr. Teja Gerbec, Goriški muzej

Prehistoric hilltop settlement Kaštelir
Dr. Maša Saccara and Špela Prunk, Regional Museum Koper

Carnium (Kranj) between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Dr. Veronika Pflaum, Gorenjska Museum

Teilnahmegebühr: 10 € / 5 €
Anmeldung: [email protected]