The Lord’s Prayer (Waldmann & Pfitzner 1953)

Let’s get something straight. Miniature books are largely stupid. The same is true of massive books—whether they be large in size or large in page count. At a certain point they cease to be useful tools and are just uncomfortable and cruel. We recently had this conversation with Molly Schwartzburg, Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts at Harvard, and she pointed out that at one time miniature books were often used for secretive or banned texts. OK. We can accept that they sometimes serve a purpose. But when they are merely meant to push the limits of printing and binding, well, they serve no purpose beyond showing off. Name a show-off that you like or would vote for. We’ll wait. . . .

Anyway, this one came to us recently, before we got new glasses. We couldn’t read a word of it. And even the glasses didn’t help. So we wrote to Phil Salmon of Bromer Booksellers to ask him what we had. He wrote back promptly:

What you have there is the Lord’s Prayer published by Waldmann & Pfitzner circa 1953. It was produced with three other titles, all of which were the smallest books in the world for that time.

We tried to take pictures of the interior, but it’s just impossible. Our fingers are too fat. (And we need to cut our nails.) We tried tweezers and tongs and every trick we could think of. Lucky for you, this little thing comes with a small acrylic box that has a  magnifying glass built in. It won’t do you any good, but it will make losing this a tiny bit harder. 

If miniature books are your thing, that’s fine. We can still be friends. Or, we are least still willing to take your money. Watch a further description here »