Miniature Books - Thomas Boreman

Curiousities in the Tower of London... The Second Edition. London: Printed for Thomas Boreman, 1741. 2 vols., (2 3/8 x 1 3/4 in.; 60 x 45 mm), woodcut frontispiece and 12 full-page text illustrations in vol. one, woodcut frontispiece and 1 full-page illustration in vol. two, 4-page publisher's advertisement at end of vol one and 3-page at end of vol two; light browning and a bit of spotting, top margin shaved touching a few page numbers, some tears in backstrips. Signature "Charles Burnet" on front endpapers. Welsh 1407. — The History of Cajanus the Swedish Giant. London: Printed for Thomas Boreman, 1742. (2 1/4 x 1 3/4 in.; 56 x 45 mm), woodcut frontispiece; top edge shaved touching a few page numbers, backstrip mended. Welsh 1412. — The History and Description Of the famous Cathedral of St. Paul's, London. London: Printed for Thomas Boreman, 1741. 2 vols. (2 3/8 x 1 3/4; 60 x 45 mm), 2 woodcut frontispieces and 11 full-page text illustrations, subscribers list and publishers advertisement at end of vol one, publisher's advertisement at end of vol two; some spotting, top edge shaved touching a few headlines. Signature "Charles Burnet" on front endpapers. Welsh 1411. — Westminster Abbey. London: Printed for Thomas Boreman, 1742. 3 vols., (2 3/8 x 1 3/4 in.; 60 x 45 mm), 3 woodcut frontispieces and 26 full-page text illustrations, publisher's advertisement and subscriber's list in each volume; some spotting, top edge shaved touching a few headlines, one backstrip torn. Welsh 1413. — The Gigantick History Of the two famous Giants, And other Curiosities In Guildhall, London. Third Edition, corrected. London: Printed for Thomas Boreman, 1741. 2 vols. (2 3/8 x 1 3/4 in.; 60 x 45 mm), 2 woodcut frontispieces and 1 full-page text illustration, subscriber's list in each volume. Welsh 1410. The entire set in a red half-morocco slip case.

Wilbur M. Stone (bookplate in slipcase) — Justin Schiller (bookplates in each volume)

See Pierpont Morgan Library, Early Children's Books, nos. 173-174; Wilbur M. Stone, The Gigantick Histories of Thomas Boreman (1933); D.V. Welsh, Bibliography of Miniature Books (1989)

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A lovely set of the Gigantick Histories, considered to be some of "the most remarkable tiny books of the [eighteenth] century"(Louis Bondy).

The Gigantick Histories were a series of miniature children's books issued from 1740 to 1742 by Boreman, considered the first English publisher of books exclusively for that market and commonly believed to be the author of the entire series. He developed subscriber lists which he printed in his books, something commonly done for adults but never before used for children. He is commonly believed to be the author of all the books. The subscriber list in the history of St. Paul's includes a number of children from the British colonies in America, such as Sammy Mather (grandson of Cotton Mather), and Polly Oliver (daughter of Andrew Oliver, lieutenant governor of Massachusetts Bay).