The World's Smallest Books

Posted on May 28, 2011

The world's smallest book according to Guinness World Records is a tiny copy of Anton Chekov's short story, "The Chameleon." The book is a .9 by .9 millimeter book, which is slightly bigger than a grain of salt. Mark Palkovic, head of the Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library, has a certificate from Guinness World Records that confirms the book is the smallest in the world.

The miniscule book has 30 pages and three color illustrations. The print cannot be read by the naked eye, but Palkovic keeps another larger copy of the book, still measuring just a tiny 2 by 1.8 centimeters, nearby.

"There are only 100 of these books that were published," says Palkovic. "Fifty were published in English (Palkovic has the English version) and 50 in Russian. I have copy number 16 of the English version."

There have been smaller books created by nanotechnology labs, such as the book, Teeny Ted From Turnip Town, which was created by the Nano Imaging Facility of Simon Fraser University. You would need an electron microscope to read this book. You can read more about it here.

Here is Palkovic talking about the tiny Chekhov book. Take a look: