Every year, on April 23, the cultural community of the planet celebrates World Book and Copyright Day. Traditionally, on a day symbolic for world literature (the legendary writers William Shakespeare and Miguel Cervantes died on April 23, 1616) the importance of books and reading in the life of every person is emphasized.
The great Petrarch wrote: “There is a special charm in the books.” These words fully apply to miniature and small-format publications, which are the pride of any book collection, any library.
As part of the celebration of the Book Day, the staff of the library-branch №4 named. M.M. Kotsyuby MBUK Central Library System for Adults in Simferopol prepared for their readers and remote users an express show “Small treasures of the book world.”
Among the many printed editions produced in the world, miniature books make up only a small part, because their creation requires a high level of skill, bordering on true art. With a small size (in the countries of Europe and the USA no more than 76 mm, and in the post-Soviet space 100 mm), they retain all the qualities of a book in a traditional format.
The history of baby books is rooted in hoary antiquity. First appearing before our era, in the form of scrolls and clay tablets no more than three to four centimeters in size, they were known in ancient times. Pliny the Elder in the 1st century AD on the pages of “Natural History” mentioned the list of the “Iliad” on parchment, which fit in a nutshell. And the Roman poet Marcial advised his contemporaries: “Hand in a large book in lari, buy one that fits in your hand.”
In the Middle Ages, miniature books were adorned with jewelry, written and painted by hand. It is interesting that one of the handwritten mini-books that have survived in the world has a Crimean registration. The repository of ancient manuscripts in Matenadaran (Yerevan, Armenia) contains a manuscript measuring three by four centimeters, created in medieval Crimea. On sheets of parchment dating from 1434, the scribe Oksen from Kafa (now Feodosia) inscribed the foundations of the theory of the calendar. The first printed miniature book appeared a little later, in 1468. It was published by Peter Schiffer, a student of Gutenberg’s, measuring 65 by 94 millimeters. There were many historical figures among connoisseurs of such books. Known miniature prayer books by Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, Abraham Lincoln. A big fan of tiny books was Napoleon Bonaparte. During military campaigns, he did not part with the “Miniature Traveler’s Library”, placed in a special leather case.
Among the first mini-books published in our country one can mention the editions “The Art of Being Funny in Conversations” in 1788 (its only copy is in the library of the Academy of Sciences of Russia in St. fairy tales and fables ”in 1829. A unique miniature, the smallest edition of Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”, released on the occasion of the poet’s 100th birthday in 1899, 17 by 26 millimeters in size, has become a masterpiece of Russian printing industry. The book was accompanied by a medallion with a built-in lens, without which it was impossible to read small text. Nikolai Gogol was a well-known fan of the miniature book. The writer did not like mathematics, but acquired Perevozchikov’s “Mathematical Encyclopedia” only because it was published in a small format.
These days, miniature books are of no less interest than in the past centuries. The organizers of the event are proud to acquaint readers with an exhibition of modern mini-publications from the library fund, including “Poems of Love” by Eduard Asadov, “Poems to Beloved Women”, “Matrona Moskovskaya. A flower garden of wisdom ”. Fans of local history will be interested in books on Crimean topics: an essay-guide to Pushkin’s places by Natalia Bogdanova Gurzuf “Judge whether I was happy …” »Vladimir Mayakovsky.
An honorable place among the presented editions is taken by the little book “What you sow … so you reap, or for the edification of children and grandchildren.” This amazing book of small size (60 by 84 millimeters), but with great meaning, was published by the Ivan Sytin Foundation in 2001 and is addressed to young readers as a testament to the wisdom of previous generations. The sections “Tips to Remember”, “From Parents to Children”, “The Art of Being a Grandfather” raise the eternal problem of “fathers and children”, the desire of the older generation to pass on the treasures of their moral and spiritual experience to the descendants. Excerpts from the works of world and domestic classics, the book presents literary examples of paternal parting words of Polonius (“Hamlet” by William Shakespeare), Andrei Grinev (“The Captain’s Daughter” by Alexander Pushkin), Molchalin Sr. (“Woe from Wit” by Alexander Griboyedov), Nikolai Kirsanov ( “Fathers and Sons” by Ivan Turgenev), Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky (“War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy). Reading this book, which will easily fit in the palm of your hand, it is difficult to disagree with the words of Thomas More: “The book is small. But like a sparkling gem In its small mass, it bears great value. ”