Thumb bibles are a previously unexplored genre of miniature books. This study examines them from a theological, literary, book-historical and pious perspective.

It is regarded as a truism that the King James Bible is one of the finest pieces of English prose. Yet few people are aware that the King James Bible was generally scorned or ignored as English writing for a century and a half after its publication. The reputation of this Bible is the central, most fascinating, element in a larger history, that of literary ideas of the Bible as they have come into and developed in English culture; and the first volume of David Norton's magisterial two-volume work surveys and analyses a comprehensive range of these ideas from biblical times to the end of the seventeenth century, providing a unique view of the Bible and translation.

In this highly innovative study, Ian Green examines the complete array of Protestant titles published in England from the 1530s to the 1720s. These range from the large specialist volumes at the top to cheap tracts at the bottom, from radical on one wing to conservative on the other, and from instructive and devotional manuals to edifying-cum-entertaining works such as religious verse and cautionary tales. Wherever possible the author adopts a statistical approach to permit a focus on those works which sold most copies over a number of years, and in an annotated Appendix provides a brief description of over seven hundred best selling or steady selling religious titles of the period. A close study of these texts and the forms in which they were offered to the public suggests a rapid diversification of both the types of work published and of the readerships at which they were targeted. It also demonstrates shrewd publishers' frequent attempts to plug gaps in a rapidly expanding market. Where previous studies of print have tended to focus on the polemical and the sensational, this one highlights the didactic, devotional, and consensual elements found in most steady selling works. It is also suggested that in these works there were at least three Protestantisms on offer an orthodox, clerical version, a moralistic, rational version favoured by the educated laity, and a popular version that was barely Protestant at all and that the impact of these probably varied both within and between different readerships. These conclusions shed much light not only on the means by which English Protestantism was disseminated, but also on the doctrinally and culturally diffused nature of English Protestantism by the end of the Stuart period. Both the text and the appendix should prove invaluable to anyone interested in the history of the Reformation or in printing as a medium of education and communication in early modern England.

This catalogue gives detailed description of 220 miniature books divided into eight sections located in the library of Dunderave Castle in Scotland. The three major sections include Rare Books, Almanacs and Thumb Bibles followed by five minor sections which include Prayer Books, the Koran with other works from 18th, 19th Centuries, post 1900 and Objets d’Art. The collection at Dunderave Castle consists of two collections purchased at auction. The initial was from the Dutch book dealer Nico Israel and his wife Nanni collected over their lifetime from important collections such as the Houghton sale in 1979 and include the earliest published miniature the Kalendarium of 1570 by Plantin. The other titles purchased from Mr. and Mrs. John Gutfreund from New York included several books from the Salomon collection. Following the introduction, a detailed description is given of the books with photographic images taken by Iain McLean and John Linton. Miniature books are defined as 3 inches (77cm) or less in height but for books printed in 19th Century or earlier it can be extended to 4 inches. The Israel collection was housed in a Miniature revolving bookcase, a bureau cabinet and a pedestal bookcase.

An innovative study of how the Victorians used books, portraits, fairies, microscopes, and dollhouses to imagine miniature worlds beyond perception In 1856, Elizabeth Gaskell discovered a trove of handmade miniature books that were created by Charlotte and Branwell Brontë in their youth and that, as Gaskell later recalled, “contained an immense amount of manuscript, in an inconceivably small space.” Far from being singular wonders, these two-inch volumes were part of a wide array of miniature marvels that filled the drawers and pockets of middle- and upper-class Victorians. Victorian miniatures pushed the boundaries of scientific knowledge, mechanical production, and human perception. To touch a miniature was to imagine what lay beyond these boundaries. In Worlds Beyond, Laura Forsberg reads major works of fiction by George Eliot, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Lewis Carroll alongside minor genres like the doll narrative, fairy science tract, and thumb Bible. Forsberg guides readers through microscopic science, art history, children’s culture, and book production to show how Victorian miniatures offered scripts for expansive fantasies of worlds beyond perception.

Children's Bibles have been among the most popular and influential types of religious publications in the United States, providing many Americans with their first formative experiences of the Bible and its stories. In Children's Bibles in America, Russell W. Dalton explores the variety of ways in which children's Bibles have adapted, illustrated, and retold Bible stories for children throughout U.S. history. This reception history of the story of Noah as it appears in children's Bibles provides striking examples of the multivalence and malleability of biblical texts, and offers intriguing snapshots of American culture and American religion in their most basic forms. Dalton demonstrates the ways in which children's Bibles reflect and reveal America's diverse and changing beliefs about God, childhood, morality, and what must be passed on to the next generation. Dalton uses the popular story of Noah's ark as a case study, exploring how it has been adapted and appropriated to serve in a variety of social agendas. Throughout America's history, the image of God in children's Bible adaptations of the story of Noah has ranged from that of a powerful, angry God who might destroy children at any time to that of a friendly God who will always keep children safe. At the same time, Noah has been lifted up as a model of virtues ranging from hard work and humble obedience to patience and positive thinking. Dalton explores these uses of the story of Noah and more as he engages the fields of biblical studies, the history of religion in America, religious education, childhood studies, and children's literature.