Name of the book: My Country
Author: Harsha Perera
Pages: 24 pp
Size: Inches 0.75x1
Weight: 1.59g
Price: Rs. 360
The recorded history of the smallest books, dates back several decades, to 1950. The book, 3.5 x 3.5 millimetres was printed in Germany to collect funds for the Gutenberg Museum. A copy of the book is now preserved in Sydney, Australia. ‘God’s sermons’ was printed in seven languages, namely, English (British and American) German, French, Dutch, Spanish and Swedish.
At present, the record of the world’s smallest book is held by a Canadian, Robert Chaplin. The book,“Teeny Teed from Turnip Town” comprises 30 pages, and the size of a human hair, (micrometer 70 x 100) was printed on September 18, 2012. The book is priced at $ 15,000.
The Sri Lanka National Library too has some samples of small books. There are two dictionaries printed in 1964 English-Dutch and English-German. There was also a Sinhala book titled, ‘Piruwana Poth Vahanse’, printed in 2006. The size of the book is inches 1 x 1.5.
The smallest printed book in Sri Lanka, ‘Raja Bojana of Sri Lanka’ authored by Pabilis Silva, Chef, Mount Lavinia Hotel, was published on April 24, 2014, on his 77th birthday.
To commemorate his 30th year as an author, Dr. Harsha Perera’s two books were released on December 29, 2017, titled ‘Mage Rata’ in Sinhala and “My Country” in English. These books at present hold a record in Sri Lanka as the smallest colour printed book with the inside pages laminated. The two books come in small boxes. The books mentioned earlier cannot be read with the naked eye, without the aid of a magnifying glass, whereas Harsha Perera’s books can be read with the naked eye.
The books illustrate a story about Sri Lanka, with pictures and versions on the pages facing each other. These two books vie for a Guinness World Record as the smallest colour printed books, with all pages laminated.