Mini coffee-table books?
November 30, 2022 10:49 AM Subscribe
I have an oddly-configured bookcase with a narrow shelf I've never used for books (until now). The shelf can accommodate volumes no taller than 175mm / 6⅞". I have enough little volumes to half-fill it. I'd like to get some more that will look appealing & intriguing on this shelf and feel good in the hand. These would need to be items readily-available in the UK. In other words, if you had a miniature coffee-table, what books would you put on it?
I'm open to all kind of subject-matter: though mostly I read fiction & poetry, or non-fiction about art, history, & the sciences.
I'm open to all kind of subject-matter: though mostly I read fiction & poetry, or non-fiction about art, history, & the sciences.
Loeb Classical Library books (facing-page original and [old-fashioned] translation) are 6.37 inches high and class up any joint.
posted by praemunire at 12:21 PM on November 30, 2022
posted by praemunire at 12:21 PM on November 30, 2022
Frank O'Hara's Lunch Poems (dimensions: 157 x 124 x 5 mm), available widely eg Waterstones, from City Lights' Pocket Poets series.
posted by boudicca at 12:22 PM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by boudicca at 12:22 PM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
How about a few photography books in Hoxton Mini Press’s Vintage Britain series? (They seem to have transposed the height and width dimensions: pretty sure they’re all 156mm tall.)
posted by HandfulOfDust at 12:24 PM on November 30, 2022
posted by HandfulOfDust at 12:24 PM on November 30, 2022
The Powers of Ten flipbook by Charles & Ray Eames is both art & science. And it's a flipbook!
Also, pricier but gorgeous: a thick but vertically short art book I love is Gerhard Richter's Patterns. It's made up of increasingly narrow slices of a single painting (by Richter), mirrored and multiplied to fill each page. It kinda starts with painting abstraction and ends with digital abstraction. It's beautiful to hold and leaf through.
Also also: you don't mention music as an interest, but it's still possible there's a 33 1/3 book about an album you love or want to have coffee with forever. The books in the series are 6 1/2" high.
posted by miles per flower at 12:46 PM on November 30, 2022
Also, pricier but gorgeous: a thick but vertically short art book I love is Gerhard Richter's Patterns. It's made up of increasingly narrow slices of a single painting (by Richter), mirrored and multiplied to fill each page. It kinda starts with painting abstraction and ends with digital abstraction. It's beautiful to hold and leaf through.
Also also: you don't mention music as an interest, but it's still possible there's a 33 1/3 book about an album you love or want to have coffee with forever. The books in the series are 6 1/2" high.
posted by miles per flower at 12:46 PM on November 30, 2022
Abbeville Press publishes an art book series called Tiny Folio which sounds like the sort of thing you're looking for.
posted by May Kasahara at 1:53 PM on November 30, 2022
posted by May Kasahara at 1:53 PM on November 30, 2022
Best answer: Beautiful small format books, if the somewhat esoteric subject matter appeals: 20th-century matchbox labels from central and eastern Europe, and photographs of metro stations all over the former USSR by Frank Herfort.
posted by FavourableChicken at 2:35 PM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by FavourableChicken at 2:35 PM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
A Thousand Paths To Friendship
and the Thousand Paths series
posted by artdrectr at 8:30 PM on November 30, 2022
and the Thousand Paths series
posted by artdrectr at 8:30 PM on November 30, 2022
How about The Tale of Peter Rabbit, hieroglyph edition? 13.7 cm high, says Amazon. It looks as if one or two other languages are also available.
And if you've got a second-hand bookshop nearby, definitely worth having a look. I've got a shelf's worth of tiny books I wanted to suggest - Taschen postcard books, Hoikusha books about Japanese art forms, mini Jan Pienkowski pop-up books, classic Thomas the Tank Engine books - but they're all out of print. So are the Observer's Books (of Birds, Trees, Motorcycles and so on), which I think might be small enough, are charming by light of their age, and turn up pretty regularly.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 5:17 AM on December 1, 2022
And if you've got a second-hand bookshop nearby, definitely worth having a look. I've got a shelf's worth of tiny books I wanted to suggest - Taschen postcard books, Hoikusha books about Japanese art forms, mini Jan Pienkowski pop-up books, classic Thomas the Tank Engine books - but they're all out of print. So are the Observer's Books (of Birds, Trees, Motorcycles and so on), which I think might be small enough, are charming by light of their age, and turn up pretty regularly.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 5:17 AM on December 1, 2022
Very Short Introductions from the Oxford University Press are colorful, small and really interesting on a broad variety of subjects.
posted by LizardBreath at 6:19 AM on December 1, 2022
posted by LizardBreath at 6:19 AM on December 1, 2022
Grapefruit by Yoko Ono is a fun one and easy to browse and enjoy in small chunks
posted by veery at 6:42 AM on December 1, 2022
posted by veery at 6:42 AM on December 1, 2022
Response by poster: Many thanks to all for the suggestions. I marked FavourableChicken's answer as 'best' as I particularly like the look of the Matchbloc book.
Already on the shelf are a couple of mid-20th-century "Everyman" classics: suitably compact (if a bit drab), so one or two of the newer ones makes sense. Likewise I have one of the "City Lights Pocket Poets" series already, but may well try Lunch Poems for size. Looking at the Loeb classics is a very good idea that hadn't occurred to me at all. And the other series suggested above ("Vintage Britain", "Tiny Folio", etc.) are new to me & seem well worth exploring.
As per ManyLeggedCreature's suggestion, I do plan on having a good look around the local second-hand shops too.
Further suggestions would be very welcome!
posted by misteraitch at 11:52 AM on December 1, 2022
Already on the shelf are a couple of mid-20th-century "Everyman" classics: suitably compact (if a bit drab), so one or two of the newer ones makes sense. Likewise I have one of the "City Lights Pocket Poets" series already, but may well try Lunch Poems for size. Looking at the Loeb classics is a very good idea that hadn't occurred to me at all. And the other series suggested above ("Vintage Britain", "Tiny Folio", etc.) are new to me & seem well worth exploring.
As per ManyLeggedCreature's suggestion, I do plan on having a good look around the local second-hand shops too.
Further suggestions would be very welcome!
posted by misteraitch at 11:52 AM on December 1, 2022
Response by poster: The shelf in question, including a few of the suggestions above. Thanks again!
posted by misteraitch at 11:19 AM on December 17, 2022
posted by misteraitch at 11:19 AM on December 17, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Hypatia at 11:26 AM on November 30, 2022 [1 favorite]