4,000 Years of Miniature Books' exhibit at Lilly Library displayed

More than 900 miniature books are on exhibition at the Lilly Library. Some of these carefully handcrafted and finely detailed books are smaller than the back of your earring and can only be read using a magnifying glass or microscope.\nThe books were formerly Ruth E. Adomeit's, one of the largest private collectors in the United States. Becky Cape, head of public services at the Lilly Library, said Adomeit donated a large number of the miniature books prior to her death in 1996, when the whole collection was donated to the library. One of the display cases in the wall contains a representation of how Adomeit displayed the miniature books in her home, such as inside wooden clocks and doll house size bookcases.\nMiniature books are classified as three inches or smaller. Cape describes their subjects as diverse as the books people find in today's bookstores. The oldest book on display at the library is a Babylonian seal, cuneiform clay tablet, dated back to 2150 BC.\nThe books were used for various purposes.\nMany people were fond of the miniature books because of how easily they could be transported. For instance, Cape said some people would carry prayer books in their pockets and perform religious ceremonies throughout the day. Miniature books were also used because of how easily they could be concealed and passed along, Cape said. One such book on display, Fruits of Philosophy, was published in 1832, and contained information about the anatomy of human reproduction and how to prevent pregnancies. The unknown author wrote the book because of his concern for the numbers of women dying in childbirth and was later sent to jail for pornography.\nCape said women felt it necessary to hide the book because birth control was not accepted at that time in the United States.\n"It's nice to have this type of artifact to understand what people were thinking back then," Arthur Ling, a graduate student and library assistant, said.\nChildren liked the books because they were small, said Cape. Several of the thumb Bibles on display contain short stories and verses from the Old and New Testaments and are illustrated for children. The earliest thumb Bible on display is from the 17th Century.\nCape said others enjoyed the tiny literary works for their artistic appeal. For example, the exhibition includes a miniature book about Russian Nesting dolls, which contains five red books within each other, each painted with a Nesting doll on the cover. Another book about masks displays an antique- looking mask inside its sand colored cover. There is also a book about small flies that actually contains eight dead flies.\nEven though the miniature books are centuries old, they can still be enjoyed today.\nRachel Allen, a graduate student, is a public service assistant at the Lilly Library and said she has learned much from the exhibit.\n"There is this whole sub-culture of books I didn't know existed," Allen said. "I think they're pretty amazing; each one is so unique."\n"4,000 Years of Miniature Books" will be on display at the Lilly Library until Sep. 15. For more information visit www.indiana.edu/~liblilly.