A big collection of tiny books

Every once in a while, a book comes across my desk that I cannot stop looking at, and such is the case with "Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures" by Anne C. Bromer and Julian I. Edison (Abrams, 216 pp., $40).

This beautiful volume gets at the allure of teeny-tiny books, defined as books of not more than 3 inches in height. In the foreword, the late Stanley Marcus (of Neiman-Marcus department store fame), a miniature-book publisher and collector, tries to explain the charm of the miniature book: "Children love them, for they are more in scale to their size than larger books. Adults admire them for their artistry of design and execution, and for their small size, making them convenient for travel."

"Miniature Books" features teeny-tiny Babylonian tables, teeny-tiny volumes of Shakespeare and teeny-tiny Biblical texts. In a more sinister vein, there's a miniature version of Mao Tse-Tung's "Little Red Book" and miniature volumes of pro-Hitler propaganda (issued yearly from 1933 to 1938). There's also mention of Shannon Mitchell, a Vancouver, Wash., artist who is considered "the leading contemporary scribe in the field," as well as examples of her work.

Mary Ann Gwinn, Seattle Times book editor