Bijou Almanac

Schloss's English Bijou Almanac for 1841; poetically illustrated by the Hon. Mrs Norton . - London: Schloss, 1840. - 20x14 mm., ill.

Fine gilt tooled glazed boards with a lozenge-shaped onlay of gilt-titled red morocco. In similar slipcase. Housed in the original hinged case of morocco over wood with metal clasp and title in gold on the lid. The interior of the case is lined in with white velvet and the lid in white satin. With a tiny magnifying glass with a tortoise-shell handle.

Text lithographed throughout by H.R. Davies in a nearly 3-point Excelsior. Illustrated with pictures including portraits of Mrs. Caroline Norton, Sheridan Knowles, Princess Marie von Hessen , and Napoleon plus a view of Caernarvon Castle and a picture of a fairy.


Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton (1808 –1877) was a famous British society beauty, novelist and poet. Her first novels, The Wife and Woman's Reward, were issued anonymously.
A conflict with her husband, the odious George Norton, forced her into political activism and writing pamphlets.


These series of The English Bijou Almanac appeared in London between 1836 and 1843. From 1839 called Schloss's English Bijou Almanac after the Publisher Albert Schloss. Schloss was Fancy Stationer tot Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Kent.

Spielmann (p. 160) notes that these tiny almanacs were "a fashionable and by no means cheap present for the Ladies of the Court and similar high-placed personalities."

Louis Bondy (p. 42) states: “They are true miracles of engraving, illustration, binding and presentation”.

Julian Tuwim

My, Żydzi Polscy; Kwiaty Polskie (fragm.) / door Julian Tuwim. - Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1993. - 63 p.: ills.; 66x55 mm. - ISBN 83 221 0637 8


Green leather binding with goldstamped candelabrum. Illustrations on shaded paper. Illustrated brown endpapers. 3000 copies.

Bibliophile miniature edition of fragments of 'My zydzi Polscy' [=We, Polish Jews] and Kwiaty Polskie [= Polish Flowers] issued by Magnum Press, Hebrew University Jerusalem, 1984.


Julian Tuwim (1894 - 1953), was a Polish poet, born in Łódź. He studied law and philosophy at Warsaw University. Tuwim was co-founder of the Skamander group of experimental poets and is known as a major figure in Polish literature
At Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland in 1939, Tuwim emigrated to France and later on to the USA.
There he wrote "Kwiaty Polskie", an epic poem in which he remembers with nostalgia his early childhood in Łódź. In April 1944 he published the manifesto "My, Żydzi Polscy"
After the war in 1946 Tuwim returned to Poland where he died in 1953.

Recitativ

Recitativ / az Babits Mihály. - Nyugat: Szépirodalmi szemle, [1972]. - 131 p.; 56x40 mm. - ISBN 9631510107

Dark green, leather-textured material, with gilt titling, border, blindstamped price on back cover; color-printed, design dustjacket. Miniature reproduction of the edition of 1916.









Mihály Babits, (1883 - 1941) was a Hungarian poet and journalist. After his study - Hungarian, Latin and French with a particular interest in the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Nietsche - at the Budapest University he worked as a teacher in Szeged and Budapest and was editor of the Nyugat Magazine.In 1934 he wrote a standard book on West European Literature (Az Európai irodalom történette). He was also one of the most important literary translators of Hungary; a.o. Sophokles, Goethe, Shakespeare and Baudelaire. His most outstanding work is the complete translation of Dantes Divina Comedia in 1940.

Tongues of flame

Tongues of Flame; poems / by Kalman L. Levitan. - Palm Beach Gardens (Florida): Kaycee Press, 1989. - 53x65 mm., oblong. – no pag. - ISBN 0911694196

Blue leather binding with title in gold on front and spine. Blue marbled endpapers. Set by Gazebo Press in Souvenir type. Printed by Ward Schori Press on Natural Mohawk Vellum. Bound by Hugo Grummich.200 copies.

There is a loose erratum on blue paper with an apologia:
It’s the nightmare of a printer,
To find lurking on a page,
A ghastly, glaring typo,
When it’s much too late to change!


Rabbi Kalman L. Levitan (1917-2002), writer and teacher and for many years Jewish Chaplain for the Air Force.
He was the founder and first chairman of the Miniature Book Society. He was a devoted collector of miniature books. His large private collection, started with a miniature Hebrew prayerbook given to him by his father, was dispersed in 1997 and after his death the remaning volumes donated to two University Libraries. I have in my collection several volumes with the bookplate of Levitan. Kaycee Press was his imprint for at least three miniature books.

Ward Schori journalist and professional printer in Evanston Illinois. Established the Schori Press as a commercial printing house till 1980. After his retirement he owned a “basement print shop” where he printed and published most of his miniature books untill his dead in 1994.

Hugo Grummich, born in 1926 in Bosnia. He apprenticed with his uncle’s book binding company, where he became a master bookbinder, emigrated tot the US and started the Cincinnati Bindery in 1964. He won numerous awards for the quality of his work, including pieces for the Kennedy family, the Smithsonian and the Vatican.

Newly-Weds

Advice to Newly-Weds; a text first published in 1875. - York: The Circle Press, [1997] - [24 p.]; 65x44 mm.

Black leather; title goldstamped. Edges gilt. Printed in black and red.

No details found on the Circle Press or the original publication

Fabuliste

Le petit Fabuliste; Année 1821. – Paris: Marcilly, 1821. – 25x16 mm., 64 p., ill., calendar

Red morocco gilt binding. Engraved throughout with 8 full page illustrations.


Issued by the Parisian engraver and publisher Marcilly. There is no artist name on the engravings but they could come from Marcilly’s studio. The firm of Marcilly were responsable for a lot of the most beautiful childrens books between 1820 and 1830. Most of them were printed by Firmin Didot. This printer and type cutter was well-known by his very small type. The family Didot has lent its name to a typographic measurements system developed by François-Ambroise Didot.

Mosaïque des Dames

Mosaïque des dames. - Paris: Marcilly, [1837]. - 84x55 mm; 124 p. : ills. , calendar.

Green paper covered blind stamped boards; with slipcase; title gilt.
Printed by Firmin Didot and Brothers in Paris, members of a famous family of printers, punch-cutters and publishers. Firmin Didot invented the stereotypography which entirely changed the book trade. Henri Didot the Elder was the creator of a very small type (2½ point) for which he had to invent a special apparatus (the polyamatype) because this microscopic type could not be cast in the ordinary way. The family has lent its name to a typographic measurements system developed by François-Ambroise Didot.
The Paris firm of Marcilly, noted for their miniature books, were responsable for many beautiful children's books.

Zedelijke bedenkingen

Zedelijke bedenkingen en spreuken. - Middelburg: H.A. Abrahams, 1806. - X, 47 p.; 58x46 mm.

Marbled paper over boards. 64º in the way of a folio.

"Moral reflections and proverbs". This miniature book is made (typeset, printed and bound) by Hendrik Adriaan Abrahams as a proof of his ability to be member of the Middelburg guild of printers and booksellers. At that time he was an employee in the bookshop of his aunt. A widow who also had a printing house where Hendrik printed this miniature. Later on he became owner of the bookshop and editor of a local newspaper. Making a miniature book as a specimen was - as far as I know - only the practice in Middelburg (Netherlands). In the preface he stated that the format was obligatory given by the commissioners of the guild but that he was free to make another one in a larger size. What he did; because there are some copies known of a book made by him (Geloofwaardige bewijzen dat de boekdrukkunst te Haarlem is uitgevonden. Middelburg; 1806) wherein this fact is mentioned

Károly Róbert

Károly Róbert / Gyula Kristó és Ferenc Makk. - Budapest: Pátria Nyomda, 1983. - 45x35 mm., 377 p., ill.

Green leather binding ; gilt on spine and back. Coloured enamel plaque on front. Coloured endpapers with coat of arms. Numbered copy 257/500.

Károly Róbert (Charles Robert) (1288–1342) from the house of Anjou was also descended from the Hungarian Arpád dynasty. He
was born in Naples as son of Charles Martel. He became King of Hungary and Croatia in 1308. Political as well as economical he carried out important reforms, a.o. the introduction of new coins with a high alloy of gold.
Gyula Kristó and Ferenc Makk were at that time both historians in the Medieval and Early Modern Hungarian History department at the Attila Jószef Universiti in Szeged.

Shelley

Shelley / by A.C. Swinburne. - Worcester: Achille J. St Onge, 1973. - 68x57 mm., 23 p.

Gilt red leather; blue decorated endpapers; edges gilt. 500 copies printed by Enschedé en Zn., Haarlem (The Netherlands). Set in Romaneé and Spectrum type. Bound by Reliure du Centre, Limoges (France).

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 – 1822). English romantic poet. His works are regarded among the finest lyric poetry in the English language. Even writers from later generations did admire him; like Shaw, Russell, Oscar Wilde, Upton Sinclair. Henry Thoreau's civil obedience was inspired by him. Shelley spent much of his life in Europe where he became a close friend of Lord Byron. He died in a boating accident in Italy. Some of his poems, like Ozymandias and Ode to the West Wind, are among the most famous in English.

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 - 1909), English poet and novelist and critic. From 1903 till 1909 he was eight times nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. In this miniature book the poem Shelley, probably composed in 1856 or 1857 in his days at the Oxford University, appears for the first time in print. (Data from Wikipedia)