MINIATURE BOOKS

About the Book

This catalogue gives detailed description of 220 miniature books divided into eight sections located in the library of Dunderave Castle in Scotland. The three major sections include Rare Books, Almanacs and Thumb Bibles followed by five minor sections which include Prayer Books, the Koran with other works from 18th, 19th Centuries, post 1900 and Objets d’Art. The collection at Dunderave Castle consists of two collections purchased at auction. The initial was from the Dutch book dealer Nico Israel and his wife Nanni collected over their lifetime from important collections such as the Houghton sale in 1979 and include the earliest published miniature the Kalendarium of 1570 by Plantin. The other titles purchased from Mr. and Mrs. John Gutfreund from New York included several books from the Salomon collection. Following the introduction, a detailed description is given of the books with photographic images taken by Iain McLean and John Linton. Miniature books are defined as 3 inches (77cm) or less in height but for books printed in 19th Century or earlier it can be extended to 4 inches. The Israel collection was housed in a Miniature revolving bookcase, a bureau cabinet and a pedestal bookcase.

About the Author

Stephen N. Joffe, BSc, MBBCh, MD, FACS, FCS(SA), FSA(Scot), FACG, FRCS(Edinburgh), FRCS(Glasgow) Stephen is an Esteemed Quondam Professor of Surgery at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, a position he has held since 1990 and previously from 1980 he was a full-time Professor of Surgery and Medicine and Divisional Director of Gastro-Intestinal and Endocrine Surgery. Stephen has held faculty appointments at the Universities of London and Glasgow and holds fellowships of the American college of Surgeons, the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Glasgow and the South African College of Surgeons. He is a member or fellow, past and current of over 80 societies, has published nearly 200 articles in peer reviewed and scientific journals and 40 chapters for books, including being author and editor of nine books on lasers and their application to medicine and surgery, and two books on the anatomist, Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) and is a rare book collector of the early anatomists. He was Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of LCA-Vision, Inc. Nasdaq:LCAV. He was also the found of the Company’s corporate predecessor, Laser Centers of America, Inc. and served as its Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer and founder and Chairman of SLT(Japan) Co.,Ltd. He is presently a Visiting Professor in History of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles (2018-2023), the Chief Executive Officer of the Joffe Foundation, a non-profit charity and Co-Chairman of Joffe MediCenter, LLC, a healthcare services company, a past Board member of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a past Board member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Rupert Neelands was born in Doncaster, Yorkshire in 1948. He studied English Literature at Bristol University and Queen Mary London, and taught English for two years at the British Institute in Oporto. Having married in Portugal, he joined Christie’s South Kensington in 1983, training as a book specialist. He intended to stay for only a few months but found the work so different to teaching that he continued at Christie’s until 2016, becoming an auctioneer and director, taking in books of every conceivable type for sale. Early printing, science and medicine, natural history and foreign travel were all big subjects in those days. However, Rupert also had a liking for seemingly trivial books connected with social life, chess, cricket, angling, and not least the miniature books so often serving as gifts to children or lovers. Rupert now works freelance and for the fine art valuers, Doerr Dallas.