#MiniatureMonday

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Check out this tiny tragedy, printed in Glasgow in 1904. This edition of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is bound in red leather, with marbled end pages, and bears the playwright’s coat of arms on the front cover.

Smith Miniatures Collection PR2831.A2 B53 1904 

Gift of Carol Kapell in Memory of Pauline B. Deems

"Apologies, companion, but our arrangement has been... reconsidered."

Well, it was only a matter of time. These lovely puppos (barghest technically) were a lot of fun with all the tiny details in them!

For #MiniatureMonday we’re bringing you this delicate book of poems and illustrations from our Rosalee McReynolds Collection at Special Collections & Archives. “Summer Garden” by Claire Lawson-Hall includes poetic musings on the state of the author’s English garden throughout the seasons, and is paired with lovely illustrations by longtime collaborator, artist and printmaker Muriel Mallows. 

Lawson-Hall’s writing reads like a series of dispatches from the garden to an unknown correspondent, and Morrow’s loose sketches of the flora described therein frame the words in such a way that the reader feels immersed in this familiar place that Lawson-Hall returns to for inspiration throughout the seasons. 

This limited edition book, along with An Autumn Garden, A Winter Garden, and A Spring Garden, are part of our Rosalee McReynolds Collection, and all feature tremendously artful details like a concentric accordion fold which opens to reveal a large floral block print on verso. 

We never tire of finding small books in our collection, and this palm-sized beauty is no exception #MiniatureMonday