Veronica Ditting’s collection of miniature books has doubled in size since its first showing. Small Print opened in London at the bookshop Tenderbooks just over a year ago with 100 volumes. Its second iteration opens at Marta in Los Angeles on Saturday 7 November, and it now holds 258 tiny books.
A Japanese whisky series and a record-holding book
The newest additions to the miniature books collection include Yoshū Mame Tengoku, which translates as Foreign Liquor Heaven or Western Liquor Heaven. Suntory, the Japanese whisky producer, commissioned the series of 36 books in the 1960s. They cover topics from gardening and glassware to erotica, and the printing is precise.
Miniature formats have a long history of delighting collectors, from pocket-sized prints to tiny pictures viewed through a lens. Rediscovering the View-Master’s Kodachrome Stereo Photography Legacy traces how small scenic reels became a cherished pastime worth revisiting.
The collection also has a new record holder. A 5 x 5 mm leather-bound Lord’s Prayer had been the smallest book in the collection. German artist Josua Reichert’s Das Kleinste Buch der Welt has replaced it. At 2.4 x 2.9 mm, the book uses a specialist printing technique, and readers need a magnifying glass to read it.
Other highlights include a rare miniature Webster dictionary in a custom Tiffany & Co sterling silver case with the brand’s hallmark. Visitors will also find conceptual art books by Dieter Roth and Robert Filliou’s concertina Filliou Standard-Book, made around 1970 to 1975. A selection of original Hanuman Books, the pocket-sized series founded by Francesco Clemente and Raymond Foye, completes the group.
From a bookshop window to a gallery
The miniature book exhibition moves from an intimate bookshop to a gallery, which changes how the objects read. Ditting hopes Marta’s design-minded audience will see bookmaking and printed matter, from miniature books to larger editions, in a new light.
Visitors can also hear the stories behind the books. An audio tour asks them to dial a dedicated number on their mobile phones. The narrators include Fernando Augusto Pacheco, senior correspondent at Monocle Radio and host of its weekly print-media show The Stack. Ditting’s studio colleagues Harry McArthur and Laura Russell also contribute, along with Ditting herself.
Why scale matters
Ditting’s interest began in childhood in Germany. Her parents carried pocket-sized dictionaries on holiday, and she credits those everyday tools, now nearly obsolete, with shaping her attention to scale and touch. Her studio has since designed campaigns, branding, magazines and exhibitions for Hermès, The Row, Louis Vuitton, Pirelli, Somerset House and Het Nieuwe Instituut.
Printed objects can also become collectibles in their own right, as they do when images are turned into something you hold and handle. Shin Noguchi’s Photography Becomes Collectible Playing Card Decks shows how a photographer’s work can take on a new, tactile life in print.
Reading miniature books up close
She describes the books as demanding close attention. “These ‘one-hand’, miniature or thumb books are intimate objects that force us to pay attention to the tiniest of details: the bend of a page; the width of a line; the heft of a spine,” Ditting says. “They tell us the printed object is defined by tactility and technicalities. With eccentric proportions, these miniature books revive why we read.”
The collection’s ideas about proportion shape her own work too. An invitation she designed for the launch of Hermès Beauty in 2020 measures precisely three times the length of an Hermès lipstick package.
Small Print runs at Marta Los Angeles until 19 December 2026. The miniature format asks for a closer look, and the show rewards readers who lean in. A book that fits in the palm of a hand, or beneath a fingernail, makes the reader slow down and notice what printed matter is made of.
Source: wallpaper.com
Frequently asked questions
How many miniature books are in Small Print at Marta Los Angeles?
The second iteration of Small Print holds 258 tiny books, double the 100 volumes shown when it first opened at the bookshop Tenderbooks in London. The Los Angeles show opens at Marta on Saturday 7 November.
When does the Small Print exhibition run in Los Angeles?
Small Print opens at Marta in Los Angeles on Saturday 7 November and runs there until 19 December 2026. It is the second iteration of Veronica Ditting’s miniature book collection.
What is the smallest book in Veronica Ditting’s collection?
The smallest book is Das Kleinste Buch der Welt by German artist Josua Reichert, measuring 2.4 x 2.9 mm. It replaced a 5 x 5 mm leather-bound Lord’s Prayer and requires a magnifying glass to read.
How can visitors hear the stories behind the Small Print books?
Visitors can take an audio tour by dialing a dedicated number on their mobile phones. The narrators include Fernando Augusto Pacheco, Harry McArthur, Laura Russell, and Veronica Ditting herself.
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