Big Books, Little Books
Hofstra's Special Collections library owns some big books, like the 1730 Dutch Bible pictured to the right.
It's bound in boards and has a leather cover that holds in the book's contents securely with brass corners and the large clasps you see pictured.
Inside, it contains three volumes, including 5 folded maps. The first edition of this particular Bible was published in Amsterdam in 1657.
Hofstra's Special Collections also owns many minature books, including minature books that contain poetry such as Heinrich Heine's Buch de Lieder (Book of Songs), pictured below.
This extremely popular book of German verse was first published in 1827. Hofstra's copy dates from 1907. It is a mere 55 millimeters yet contains 448 pages!
You can find the verses in the book translated into English here.
Some other miniature books within Hofstra's Special Collections Library include works written by William Shakespeare. These leather bound books are all made by Knickerbocker Leather & Novelty Company. The company was located in New York City and produce all of the miniature Shakespeare books within Hofstra's Special Collections Library.
This is the As You Like It Knickerbocker miniature. It has a tawny brown leather cover and the pages are very thin. As You Like It was written in 1599 by William Shakespeare and first published in 1623. However, there is no date stated in which Knickerbocker published these miniature books.
Here is the King Lear miniature. King Lear was written in between the years 1603-1606. All the miniature Shakespear books are about 3"-4" tall. All of the mini collection are leather bound and the paper seems to be tanned as well. Each volume also includes a portrait of William Shakespeare in the front cover.
Hofstra's Special Collections Library house 10 mini volumes of Knickerbocker Leather & Novelty Co's Shakespear miniatures. Hofstra has 10 mini volumes of Shakespear's work. The titles included in the 10 are,The Tempest, As You Like It, Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, Much Ado about Nothing, Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and Midsummer Night's Dream.