Every miniature book in the collection, measuring no more than three inches, arranged in various states of attention and repose

Exhibition at the Brizdle-Schoenberg Special Collections Center
2nd floor of the Alfred R. Goldstein Library
Ringling College of Art + Design
On view now through October 16, 2017

Every miniature book in the collection, measuring no more than three inches, arranged in various states of attention and repose is a staged gathering of tiny media looking more or less natural. This exhibition considers the enduring fascination of the miniature book vis-à-vis scholarship on the exaggeration of scale and new advancements on the affects and aesthetics of cuteness.

The smallness of miniature books isn't just a means of creating a portable version of a text. As Susan Stewart argues in On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection, the significance of their stature can be understood as a kind of extreme exaggeration—both the idea of a book and the realization of its objectness are pushed to the limits of reasonability. As an object at the outskirts of reason, the miniature book operates from an anti- or non-authoritarian position, historically having more in common with "the feminine, the childish, the mad, the senile," etc. (Stewart, xiii). As such, this exhibition adds to that the pleasure of their cuteness, a cuteness that can disarm the viewer, proffer critique, invite play, or elicit care.

The miniature book collection at the Brizdle-Schoenberg Special Collections Center is grouped into eleven microchapters: the miniature as genre; the miniature and mad technique; the miniature as amulet; the miniature ad infinitum; the sociability of cuteness; the ecstatics of scale; the miniature as prototype; narrative worlds, abridged; the acuteness of cuteness; beholding the cute object; and mapping the ridiculous.

Many of the miniature books on display were created by hobbyist printers in the Amalgamated Printers’ Association (APA), acquired and generously donated to the Center by longtime letterpress printer Judi Sterne in honor of Harold E. Sterne. These miniatures are little in an additional sense, like the “little” publications described by Beatriz Colomina. They are “set apart from established” works by their small circulation and non-commercial production—bibliographic marvels produced with little support (The Small Utopia Ars Multiplicata, 203).

By aggregating discussions of publication together with theories of cuteness, this exhibition reframes and reevaluates some core considerations about the miniature book and its counterpart: minibibliophilia.

For more information, contact Janelle Rebel, Digital Curation and Special Collections Librarian ([log in to unmask] / 941.359.7583)