Religious Miniature Books: Introduction and Overview

Abstract

Miniature books, handwritten or printed books in the smallest format, have fascinated religious people, printers, publishers, collectors, readers, and others throughout the centuries because of their unique physical features, and continue to do so today. The small lettering and the delicate pages, binding, and covers highlight the material form of texts and invite sensory engagement and appreciation. This thematic issue of Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts and Contemporary Worlds addresses miniature books with focus on religious books considered sacred in Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions. The volume is a result of the interdisciplinary workshop "Miniature Books: Production, Print, and Practice" that was held at Linnaeus University in Sweden during October 2016 and included researchers working in religious studies, book history, and art history. The aim of the workshop was to discuss empirical and theoretical issues related to the production, use, and material properties of miniature books in historical and contemporary contexts by starting from a perspective that combined religious studies with book history and explored how religious interests intersect with technological developments. The discussions from the 2016 workshop and the articles collected in this volume reflect new perspectives on miniature religious books because until now, most of the available literature on miniatures has been written by book collectors. These collectors have contributed significantly to the understanding of the field with inventories of library holdings and catalogs of miniature books that identify and trace the histories of specific editions and present technical details of the books' physical formats (see for example: Adomeit 1980; Bromer and Edison 2007; Spielmann 1961; Welsh 1989). When discussing possible uses of miniature books, collectors have emphasized the practical function of texts that take up little space and can easily travel, lest we think that they exist only for humans' fascination with and appreciation for the craftsmanship required to produce tiny books (see for example:

Revisiting scriptures: Unbinding a critical comparative subfield

“…The irony is that in theorizing about the profanity and relationality of scriptures, these scholars developed ground around which to discuss those iconic texts that communities exalt. Whereas the Iconic Books project began as a database of revered books developed to study the idea of scripture, the series expanded to catalog important motifs of relationality with the material–the utility of “miniature books” for carrying on one's person (Myrvold & Parmenter, 2019, see also Myrvold, 2010), the ellison of books with bodies and sacred beings (Watts & Yoo, 2021), the exchange of power parlayed through creatively wielding certain texts in certain ways (Watts, 2019). Ritualizing the texts becomes an argument for the texts importance as well as those who can associate themselves with them, establishing themselves as iconic authorities (Feldt & Høgel, 2018).…”