Tiny tomes: The world's most beautiful miniature books 'Bible De l'Enfance Miniature and abridged versions of the Bible were a popular way of introducing children to Christian teachings; this 1815 French offering has 48 hand-coloured engraved plates. There is a certain madness to the world of miniature books. The smallest ones, which measure less than a quarter of an inch, cannot be opened; even if they could, their type could not be read without the aid of a microscope. Louis Bondy, the now-deceased guru of 20th-century miniature book collecting, once had a terrifying experience with one that measured less than a millimetre: he breathed onto it and it blew away "like a speck of dust." "It was a miracle," he later wrote, "that I managed to find it again." Tiny books inspire grand passions. Neale Albert, a 75-year-old former lawyer, has been collecting them for 20 years. The reason, he says, speaking from his home in Manhattan, is practical: "What would you do," he says, "if you loved to collect things and you lived in a two-bedroom apartment?" Yet as time went on, and his collection swelled to 3,500 volumes, Albert found it necessary to purchase a second apartment to accommodate his burgeoning library. Julian Edison was hooked by miniature books in 1960, when his wife presented him with a complete miniature set of Shakespeare on their first wedding anniversary: "I said what you would say, 'Wow! I've never seen anything like that."" Four years later, the library of a chemist, Percy Spielmann, came up for auction; Edison bought all 800 books, housed in custom-made Lilliputian bookcases, and his collection now runs to 15,000 volumes. Small books don't necessarily mean small prices: London-based dealer Sam Fogg recently sold a 16th-century miniature prayer book for close to £3 million. Edison himself recently acquired a miniature diary kept by a 13-year-old girl who was in the last lifeboat to cast off from the Titanic; it is worth just over £15,000. However he is keen to point out that he aims to create a comprehensive collection: "I'd buy something for a $1 or $5, if it was of interest." Miniature books - books of three inches or less - have been around for almost as long as full-size books. "They were created for reasons of practicality, curiosity and aesthetics," says Edison, who owns two-inch clay tablets onto which ancient Babylonians inscribed cuneiform lettering in around 2200 BC. Within 20 years of Gutenberg printing his Bible in 1455, miniature printed books were being produced and for several centuries afterwards religious books dominated the market. Book-makers worked with magnifying aids and miniature tools, binding their creations in leather, and adorning them with gold thread and precious gems. Edison's most prized book is The Fruits of Philosophy, a guide to contraception published in 1832 by a Massachusetts physician in a 3-inch-edition, hoping, perhaps, to evade the authorities. The tiny type did not save him. He was fined and imprisoned for his corrupting text. Edison likes to read his books, but Albert thrills to the bindings. His favourite is one he acquired in Barcelona. "It was bound in the year I was born," says Albert. What's it about? I don't know! It's in Catalan, so I can't read it. For more information on miniature books, visit mbs.org Picture: Steve Adams Studio/Julian Edison