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From minuscule to gigantic: Curiosities between the shelves
The "Giuseppe Grosso" Historical Library owns a microscopical book, the letter of Galileo Galilei to Cristina di Lorena, grand duchess of Tuscany, printed in Padova in 1897 by Salmin typography. It is 17 mm tall, 11 mm wide and 8 mm thick, it is made of 209 pages with 9 lines for page printed in size 2. It weights two grams, it once was the smallest book in the world, but today could have lost this record, preserving anyway its issues as a small masterpiece of typography, for its printing quality.
Galileo's letter is part of the so called Lettere copernicane, written after the release of the Sidereus nuncius (1610), where were written the famous comments made with the telescope. It is an important document, where Galileo defends the autonomy of scientific research. In this letter he dealt with the relationship between science and faith with argumentations based on the interpretation of the biblical text, and it may have been this letter the one who angered the inquisitors.
At the opposite of this small book there is a massive handwritten volume 43,5 cm tall, 27,5 cm wide and 17,5 cm thick, that weights almost 4 kilos. It is a gathering of notary instruments: 319 declarations of house properties in the area of Salbertand, with detailed descriptions and measurements, gathered by "Francoys et Ichanfrancoys Chalvets notaires roiauls Delphinantes et commissaires deputtés recepuantes en Foy de touted sue dessus". The registrations go from the 8th of July 1585 to the 1590 in "bastard writing" of easy reading. It is an evolution of the "textura": made of an elegant italics, had great spread in XIV century.