Galilei, Galileo. Galileo a Madama Cristina di Lorena (1615). Salmin, Tipogr. Padova [Padua]. 1896 (colophon dated 1897).

205, [2] pages in Italian. Portrait frontispiece. Colophon reads: 'Stampato coi caratteri del Dantino onde superare qualsiasi altra minuscola editione. Maggio, 1897'. Provenance: Carrol Atwood Wilson (1886-1947). Former copy of eminent American book collector and bibliographer Carrol Atwood Wilson, with his ex-libris in slipcase; purchased from Libreria Antiquaria Gonnelli, Florence, Italy. 12 x 19 mm. Publisher's printed pale blue wrappers, in custom green cloth chemise and green morocco fire-resistant pull-off case by Bennett, New York. Light creasing and wear to wrappers, interior clean; near fine. Once the smallest printed book in the world. First published in 1636, some twenty-one years after it was written, the letter, to his friend and patron Madama di Lorenza, argues for the harmony of religion and science. Letter written by Galileo to Grand Duchess Christina of Lorraine which argues that Copernicanism should be accommodated with the doctrines of the Catholic Church. He posits that nature and religion cannot contradict one another since both were created by God. Through writing to Christina, Galileo hoped to address a secondary audience of philosophers, mathematicians, and the politically powerful, with  the ultimate goal of dissuading the religious authorities from condemning Copernicus" (Dietz Moss,Galileo’s Letter to Christina: Some Rhetorical Considerations).  "For many years this tiny book which is only half the size of an ordinary postage stamp was considered the smallest printed from movable type" - Bondy pp.95-96. The text is set in the exceedingly small "occhio di mosca" (fly's eye) Dantino type created by Salmin for their miniature edition of Dante (1878). Precious copy of one of the most famous and popular miniature books, printed in the same fly's eye ("occhio di mosca") type as the Dantino by the same printers, set in 2-point. The work seems to be to be the smallest scientific book in the world printed with movable type. The font used is “eye of a fly” engraved in 1834 by the Piacenza Antonio Farina. According to a Miniature Book Society Newsletter from 2002, “it took one month to print thirty pages” of Letter to Christina due to the difficulty of working so small. Indeed, the text is so minute that it was pretty hard to get decent photos of the letters–I recommend coming by to see it  to get the full effect. Thus, this little book holds a pretty high place in both the history of printing and miniature books. Bondy, 95-6. Bromer/ Edison, 114. Houghton, 485. Neelands/Joffe, 23.  Spielmann, 161. Royal Collection, RCIN 1128097. Welsh, 2935. OCLC, 13150771. WorldCat locates 28 copies worldwide.