Tiny book YouTube is the most soothing place on the internet.
This morning, after reading the news that the British Library was encouraging kids to make their own tiny books in imitation of the Brontë sisters’ childhood crafting endeavors, I fell down a deep, deep internet hole that ended unlike almost any other: in a place of rest. That place is tiny book YouTube.
Here, meet Louis Bondy, tiny book collector of yesteryear, who in 1952 let a film crew into his London apartment to see his hundreds of small volumes. (The voiceover cheerily mentions that a typesetter for one of the tiny books was “driven nearly blind and insane by his task,” but I think we’re not supposed to worry about that.)
Watch an antiquarian bookseller flip through a tiny Bible, circa 1835-40:
Take a walk through the University of Iowa’s collection, consisting of more than 4,000 miniature books, courtesy of Iowa PBS:
Check out this absolutely bonkers tiny printing of Hamlet, created by Jan and Jaremila Sobota in 2009 and acquired by the University of Virginia:
In conclusion:
