DUSIE WEE-CHAPS by EILEEN R. TABIOS & ELIZABETH TREADWELL

Dusie is one of the most enchanting indie presses about--you can read about it on Wikipedia and/or their website. In 2006, they did a series of "wee chaps" through which I was able to participate with IT'S CURTAINS, a long poem I made in collaboration with one of David Baptiste-Chirot's text (I obtained David's permission beforehand). I have five copies of these wee chaps, each of which is designed and put together differently by Dusie publisher Susana Gardner. As the first photo shows, not all of the Dusie wee chaps fit the definition of "miniature book"; fortunately, mine do as they're sized in the range of 2" x 2" to 2.75" x 3".  From this wee chap series, Elizabeth Treadwell's sparkly-blue covered THE GRACES also fit within the miniature book size constraint. I am happy to include these in my Tiny Book Library.

--Eileen Tabios

*

Elizabeth Treadwell's Wee-Chap:

THE SECRETS OF POETS: An Anthology

Meritage Press sponsored a series "Secrets Among Poets" during March-April 2019. Several poets sent secrets and poems that ultimately generated the tiny (1-3/4" x 2-1/4") anthology The Secrets of Poets (SECRETS).  Each poet's contribution consists of a secret and a poem. Here are its contents, with poets listed in reverse alphabetical order:

The Secret Ring by Susan Terris

The Secret of Stars by Eileen Tabios

My Secret Diet by Cristina Querrer

Full Faith Secret by Jim McCrary

Secret Postcard by Agnes Marton

The Secret of True Forgiveness by Neil Leadbeater

EGY KONKRÉT TITOK (A Concrete Secret; untranslated from Hungarian) by Marton Koppany

My Sophoclean Secret by John Bloomberg-Rissman

Secrets Under the String by John M. Bennett

My Secret Note of Attraction by Brian Cain Aene 

While the poets' secrets will remain private in the one-off print anthology that is SECRETS (Meritage Press, 2019), the poets' poems are presented here for your enjoyment -- except for two poets who wrote their secrets within their poems.

From The Secret of Stars by Eileen Tabios

APRIL

Ping! We’re alerted

The space station is flying

Over our slumped heads—

Eyes opened, we rush outside

To be reminded of stars

*

From My Secret Diet by Cristina Querrer

WHAT DOES STARVATION LOOK LIKE?

It’s not the face 

of an impoverished child.

It’s not the cavernous crevices 

of my grandfather’s skin.

It’s not the hollowed tree 

that could not stand anymore.

Actually, it is all of these things.

It is for the times 

I’ve asked you to look at me, 

that I’ve needed an answer,

at the very least, an echo

of a solid stance.

It is for the time

I am at the precipice

about to turn 

the corner on a moment,

about to close the book—

then you feed me a short line.

I am a shipwreck 

starving for its majestic past.

I am an abandoned swing-set 

starving for happy children.

Insert an endless want,

a need.

*

From Full Faith Secret by Jim McCrary

from “WHAT THIS TOWN (LAWRENCE) NEEDS IS MORE MONKS"

3

One thing for sure

There are more gongs than guns

In Laos and even though

The USA tried mighty hard to introduce

Military hardware into the culture

They failed and it is obvious why

Gongs are followed by prayers

4

We met a woman

As we walked in a lane

We asked her what she had been

Doing at the temple?

“Putting up lights!” was her answer

And there was no reason at all to ask

Any more

Questions.

*

From The Secret of True Forgiveness by Neil Leadbeater

The Secret of True Forgiveness

To wipe the slate. Begin again.

Isn’t that what we all want?

Peace breaking out all over.

Every nation stepping forward

with such largesse

saying “We forgive you”

in heroic dactylic hexameters

so that no-one owes anyone 

anything but grace.

Surely we can do that

for the sake of the world.

*

From EGY KONKRÉT TITOK (A Concrete Secret; untranslated from Hungarian) by Marton Koppany

*

From My Sophoclean Secret by John Bloomberg Rissman

As Peter Carter said

To Conductor 71 

As the two ascended 

A supernatural staircase

In "A Matter of Life and Death":

As Plato said Sophocles said
"I’m only too glad to be rid of all that, 

it’s like escaping from bondage 

To a raving madman."

*

From Secrets Under the String by John M. Bennett

Be  bl

ank  le

ak  w  alk

s  l ea  f  r

ends

*

From My Secret Note of Attraction by Brian Cain Aene

Tankas from Evocare

Portrait 41:

Does

Love cure

Our momentary illusion?

That you and I

Are righteous to do this?

Portrait 21:

The stars above you

Are manifestations that

There’s light in darkness

And all that’s needed to do

Is look up, to where He is

2019 TINY BOOKS DIARY by EILEEN R. TABIOS

This year (2019), I decided to catalogue and expand my Tiny Books collection. So I thought I'd keep a diary about the process!  Now and then, I'll post a choice snippet. Yes, it must be choice to be posted :)

The book itself is sized 4" x 4" and is a blank journal acquired many years ago from the Fernando Botero Museum in Bogota, Colombia, or more formally Donation Botero: Collection Banco De La Republica. As you see, the cover image is quite apt--a lady reading a book. It's Botero's painting "Mujer leyendo" (Woman reading).

Enjoy these excerpts from my ongoing entries!

March 15-16: Miniaturbuchverlag Leipzig in der Wartelsteiner GmbH! I went ga-ga over these minis by a German publisher. So I ordered! Each book has its own slipcase! Every item is so gorgeous I had to be disciplined about only buying books I'd want in my library -- as in books I'd still want to read. So, for Shakespeare, for example, I got As you Like It, Macbeth, Much Ado Over Nothing, King Lear, and Hamlet. But I passed on Henry VIII. Also passed on Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. No need to re-read those (laugh).

April 12, 2019: Have finished curatorial set-up for a Tiny Book exhibition! Entitled "Maliit Na Mga Libro" (Tagalog for "small books") at North Fork Arts Projects. It'll show tiny books by Ivy Alvarez, Paolo Javier, Ulysses Duterte, Matt Manalo, Sean Labrador y Manzano and E.R. Tabios. If she can send her book from Thailand on time, also Eunice Barbara C. Novio.

April 13, 2019: I couldn't help it--today I ordered a Tiny Book ("dollhouse"-sized) for The Joy of Sex because I thought that hilarious. It's illustrated...

****

More information about Botero's "Mujer leyendo" is available HERE.

The Diary's back cover features another painting, Botero's "La Carta":

More information about Botero's "La Carta" is available HERE.

*

JANE AUSTEN'S COPY OF SHAKESPEARE

THE SONNETS OF SHAKESPEARE (Jane Austen's copy) (BoPress Miniatures, Riverside, CA, 2009). Size: 1" x 1-3/4"

is it candy or is it medicine by MINAL HAJRATWALA

is it candy or is it medicine: a very asian assemblage by Minal Hajratwala (pond farm, 2019)

UNWRAPPING THE LIFE & WORK OF BEATRIX POTTER

The Life & Work of Beatrix Potter by Shawn Hartley Hancock 
(Ariel Books / Andrews & McMeel, Kansas City, 1996)

Unwrapping, here, means literally the package in which the book arrived from Etsy's wonderfully named shop, "junquedujour"--what a whoot!

I HEARD THE BELLS ON CHRISTMAS DAY by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

Tiny Book created by Pat Sweet (Bo Press Miniature Books, Riverside CA, 2009)
1 5/8" x 1"
32 pages, 9 illustrations

"And in despair, I bowed my head. "There is no peace on earth,' I said,
For hate is strong, and mocks the song of Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men'."

This Christmas carol was written by William Wadsworth Longfellow on Christmas Eve, 1861, as the Civil War approached its most horrific stages. His son had been injured in the war a year earlier, and something in the chilling weather must have reminded him of the grim irony of celebrating Christmas against the backdrop of war. This little version of the poem has been illustrated with pictures of other winter battles throughout history: the battle of Stalingrad, the battle of the Bulge, Valley Forge, the battle of Goldsboro Bridge, the French retreat from Moscow, the German retreat from Moscow, and others, a catalog of misery and waste redeemed by the poem's final ringing, angry verse:

"Then tolled the bells more loud and deep, 'God is not dead, nor does he sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, with Peace on Earth,Good Will to Men'."

The book is bound in blue textured paper, with a paper title pasted on the front, and decorative endpapers.

Text and Images by BoPress Miniature Books.

THE FEAST OF LIGHTS by EMMA LAZARUS

The Feast of Lights by Emma Lazarus
(BoPress Miniatures, Riverside, CA, 2018)
1 3/4" x 2", 28 pages

Emma Lazarus is best known for her poem engraved on the Statue of Liberty, but she was a prolific writer, translator, and activist. She was born to a wealthy New York family and her growth as a Jewish champion was fired by the horrific Russian pogroms of 1881. Lazarus began to advocate on behalf of indigent Jewish refugees. She was an advocate of a Jewish homeland before the term "Zionism" had even been created. Her literary work was praised by Ralph Waldo Emerson and William Cullen Bryant, and she produced a dazzling body of work before her early death at the age of 38.

The poem "The Feast of Lights" is a battle poem of great energy and romantic power. Since Hanukkah itself is a celebration of liberty, it should come as no surprise that Ms. Lazarus wrote such a wonderful poem about the holiday.

_______________________

Pat Sweet and the Bo Press make miniature illustrated books, maps, portfolios, journals, miniature library furniture, globes, and other small curiosities. Subjects range from fans to werewolves to mathematics, but have common themes of curiosity, wonder, mystery, and delight. Member of the Miniature Book Society and IGMA.

Text and Images from Pat Sweet and Bo Press

BOOKS DESIGNED BY TERRIE WERTZ

Terrie Wertz makes tiny books viz LittleTHINGSinterest, Marshallville, OH:

The Language of Flowers, part of Warnes Bouquet Series and illustrated by Terrie Wertz (LittleTHINGSinterest, Marshallville, OH, 2018)

*

JOURNAL OF ANCIENT MAPS designed by Terrie Wertz (LittleTHINGSinterest, Marshallville, OH, _). Size: 9/16" x 3/4"

Journal of Ancient Maps miniature book opens and has 12 pages all with colorful ancient maps. It measures approximately 3/4 of an inch high by 9/16 of an inch long. 

(Shown with listing for HISTORICAL Old ANTIQUE MAPS)

All my books that are 1/12 scale have miniature hard covers. Most of my miniature books are readable BOOKS. They are printed on both sides of the page with a readable passages drawn from the actual book being depicted. All of my books interior paper, hardcover book board covers, ink and glues are acid-free archival quality. Scaled perfectly for your dollhouse, room box, dollhouse coffee table or a book shelf in your miniature scene. I personally design every book which can take up to 2 hours. I use pages and illustrations from the original books wherever possible.

*

THUMBELINA by Hans Christian Andersen designed  and made by Terrie Wertz (LittleTHINGSinterest, Marshallville, OH, __). Size: 7/8" x 11/16"

THUMBELINA Miniature Book Dollhouse 1:12 Scale Readable Illustrated

Thumbelina miniature book has 12 pages with 4 beautiful illustrations. It measures approximately 7/8 of an inch high by 11/16 of an inch wide. The title is printed on the spine so it will look GREAT open or closed. The full size book written by Hans Christian Andersen is part of Father Tuck's "Nursery" series circa 1900. 

All my books that are 1/12 scale have miniature hard covers. Most of my miniature books are readable BOOKS. They are printed on both sides of the page with a readable passages drawn from the actual book being depicted. All of my books interior paper, hardcover book board covers, ink and glues are acid-free archival quality. Scaled perfectly for your dollhouse, room box, dollhouse coffee table or a book shelf in your miniature scene. I personally design every book which can take up to 2 hours. I use pages and illustrations from the original books wherever possible.  

*

The Joy of Sex designed by Terrie Wertz (LittleTHINGSinterest, Marshallville, OH, _). Size: 15/16" x 5/8"

The Joy of Sex book opens to 12 pages and measures approximately 15/16 of an inch high by 5/8 of an inch wide with 9 illustrations. The title is prominent on the spine.


All my books that are 1/12 scale have miniature hard covers. Most of my miniature books are readable BOOKS. They are printed on both sides of the page with a readable passages drawn from the actual book being depicted. All of my books interior paper, hardcover book board covers, ink and glues are acid-free archival quality. Scaled perfectly for your dollhouse, room box, dollhouse coffee table or a book shelf in your miniature scene. I personally design every book which can take up to 2 hours. I use pages and illustrations from the original books wherever possible.

SMALL FIRES PRESS, VOLs. 4 and 5

Small Fires Press is Small Fires Press is a letterpress print shop and bindery in the front parlor of a shotgun in New Orleans. The printer, Friedrich Kerksieck, has an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Alabama. They create stationery, books, calling cards, invitations, and posters that are truly special. Their literary volume features their issues bound in a different vintage Matchbook Cover. Text printed digitally with letterpress illustrations. Edition: 500.  Size: 1.5" x 1.75"

Volume 4 is guest-edited by Jessica Elsaesser and features artwork by Sarah McDermott, Jared Wright, Sophie Lucido Johnson, & Caesar Meadows. Poetry are from Kristin Case, Patton Halliday Quinn, Stephen McClurg, Jeanne Morel, Andrew S. Nicholson, John Kane, Carol Szamatowicz, Abraham Smith, Cassondra Windwalker, Alex Patrick Dyck, Karolina Pawlik, & Miho Kinnas.

I have 4 copies of Volume 4:

And I have 1 copy of Vol. 5: