While some people call them silly rubbish, others regard them as a valuable collectables. Whatever people think about them, they cannot deny the popularity of the minibook. From coffee houses to local shops, from florists to garages, the tiny books are sold everywhere in the US. According to the American Miniature Book Society, a book should be no more than 7.35 centimetres tall, wide or thick. This gives minibooks the nickname pocket book or hand book. Tiny as they are, the books have covered almost all the popular topics include celebrity biographies, pets and dieting. Running Press, who have published 40 million minibooks in the US, said that "A Little Sip of Chicken Soup for the Soul" has been one of the top-sellers for years. "You can put the book into your pocket and look at it any time. It’s almost like having a breath mint," said Paul Ridberg, a 14-year-old boy in New York City. Today’s tiny books are just fancy greeting cards. "If there’s too much text in the books, they don’t sell." said Evelyn Beilenson of Running Press. In addition, some of the tiny books come with toys, such as little dolls or a windbell. Publishers are competing to find new ways to sell the books to the public. This autumn, minibooks with stereoscopic covers and sound chips will be released. So a book on kissing makes the right kind of sound and a cookbook says "delicious" when a button is pressed. While mini-books have become a big business, there are few people who would believe that these books date back to 15th century. Then minibooks were used to test the skills of apprentice printers, who had to set the tiny type on very small pages. Their small size made them popular with travellers. The earliest books were Bibles, but by the 17th and 18th centuries, the list of topics ranged from hunting guides to poetry. Napoleon once carried a mobile library of the books into battle. In 1969, NASA sent a minibook to the moon on Apollo 11. More recently, a Ukrainian artist built a microscopic book of poetry held together with a spider’s web. This minibook was small enough to pass through the eye of a needle. A fashion or a lasting treasure, who knows what the future has in store for the minibook? While the minibook is sold well in the US, it is also becoming popular in China.
