What is the Smallest Book?

The smallest book in the world measures 0.07 mm x 0.10 mm. The book is called Teeny Ted from Turnip Town.

Facts about the Book

Teeny Ted from Turnip Town was created utilizing the focused-gallium-ion beam. The book was the brainchild of Professor Karen Kavanagh, artist Robert Chaplin and a team of scientists. The book is so small you need an electron microscope to read it. The book is composed of 30 microtablets. Each microtablet is etched on one crystalline silicon.

The focused in beam works like a drill on sand. But rather than sand, gallium ions were used. According to its creators, it is possible to make the smallest book in the world even smaller.

The current record holders based on the Guinness Book of Records are Chekhov’s Chameleon (0.9 by 0.9mm) and the New Testament of the King James Bible (5 x 5 mm). The book made by professor Kavanagh beats these two.

Chekhov’s Chameleon

The second tiniest book on the planet, the book is owned by Mark Palkovic, the College-Conservatory of Music Library’s head librarian. Despite the size, the book has three color illustrations and thirty pages.

The book is so small the naked eye cannot read it. But Palkovic has a slightly larger version around. The “large” version is 2 x1.8 cm. Only a hundred copies of the book were published, half in English and the other half in Russian.

Other Miniature Books

One of the tiniest books made in the traditional way can be found at Selfridges’ Wonder Room in Concept Store. The book dimensions are 2.4 x 2.9 mm. The alphabet for the leather bound tome was developed by German typographer Joshua Reichert.

The picture book was created in Leipzig, a city renowned for its excellent books. It was also in the city when the idea for the book came out. The tome is sold inside a wood box. A magnifying glass is included so you can read the contents. Without it, the text is impossible to decipher.

Unlike the book made by Kavanagh, this was created in the traditional way. However, all the equipment and tools had to be created in small scale as well. The publisher is Die Gestalten. 300 editions of the book have been published. Each book is being sold for £70,

The smallest book in the world made by Kavanagh and company is being sold in signature-edition copies. Compared to its miniscule size, the price is rather large: around £10,000.