Byways among English books / by Cyril Davenport.

  • Davenport, Cyril, 1848-1941.
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Byways among English books / by Cyril Davenport. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    166/226 (page 142)
    CHAPTER IV MINIATURE BOOKS. HORN BOOKS. BOOK STAMPS. BOOK PLATES SMALL books in manuscript can be made as small as the calligraphist wishes to make them: the size depends upon his manual dexterity, and the only requirement is that of legibility. The same statement applies to engraved books which are also done by hand. But there is another sort of small book the interest of which does not depend upon the manual skill of one man only, but owes its existence to the co-operation of several craftsmen : this is the miniature printed book, which when finished is the joint production of the designer of the type, the cutter of the type, of the printer and of the binder. Small printed books are objects which can be more readily met with than those written by hand, and many of them are delightful little works of art. I should class books as belonging to the miniature category if they do not exceed three inches by two inches, measured on the printed page and not on the binding. But all such size definitions should be somewhat elastic, and there are considerable numbers of small books which exceed my limit by very little, but nevertheless I should simply class them as small books and leave out the word “ miniature,” and if a catalogue be made in which any small books are entered I think the size of the printed page in inches should always be given. It is always a good thing to give the size of the foldings as well, because