Countdown to LEAP INTO LOVE

In 14 days, The Authors at Sweet Americana Sweethearts are holding their first ever Facebook Party and YOU are invited! We are calling it LEAP INTO LOVE because…well…love is a BIG LEAP for most of us and we are holding it on LEAP DAY!

Some things to look forward to ~
1. A chance to chat with your favorite authors and to meet some new ones.
2. DRAWINGS for PRIZES throughout the 3-hour party.
3. A GRAND PRIZE for those who enter our RAFFELCOPTER for our COUNTDOWN TO LEAP INTO LOVE Subscribe/Follow by Email drive sweepstakes.

The books promoted on Sweet Americana Sweethearts are sweet, clean romances set in America between 1820s & 1920s. They are full of romance, adventure, and mystery with a G to PG rating. We like to call them Family Friendly! Sign up to attend our Facebook party by clicking HERE. (Having trouble signing up? Just "friend" one of our authors and ask her to invite you.)

Our Grand Prize will be a giveaway for one lucky subscriber/email follower to our blog. (Restrictions apply; see our Sweepstakes Policy found on the tab at the top of the blog site.) You can increase your odds of winning the basket if you “Like” and “Share” the LEAP INTO LOVE event to your friends on social media. The more, the merrier!

If you have already subscribed to follow us by RSS feed or have signed up to receive our posts by email, your name will be entered. We invite all others to view our site. We sincerely hope you will choose to subscribe and/or follow us by email. To enter, simply sign-up through RAFFLECOPTER between February 18^th and February 29th. Each one of those countdown days we will feature one of our authors until we get to LEAP DAY, February 29^th, the day of the big LEAP INTO LOVE Facebook party.

Authors at the LEAP INTO LOVE event ~ 

Amelia Adams

Author Kristin Holt
Shanna Hatfield
Penny Brown Estelle
Leah Atwood
Linda Hubalek
Zina Abbott Author
Doris McCraw/Angela Raines
Kathryn Albright
Patricia Carroll
Linda Carroll-Bradd

Tweet this blog post:

It’s coming starting February 18th! COUNTDOWN TO LEAP INTO LOVE http://bit.ly/1ogHtQU #SweetAmerSweethearts

Books in Miniature!

 *Make sure to read to the bottom of this post to find out how to enter the giveaway that celebrates my newest release!*

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Isn't it something how people are intrigued and amused by things in miniature? Anything in miniature makes us pause for a moment ~ often in awe and delight. Think about it...miniature dogs, ponies, and pigs. Just the thought of them brings a smile.

A while back I was lucky enough to visit the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, and had my first introduction to miniature books. I looked through a magnifying glass at the tiniest King James Bible I'd ever seen. How amazing it was to learn that miniature books had been around for centuries!

Officially, a miniature book is a book that ranges from one-half inch square to 3 inches (according to the Miniature Book Society.) The Huntington Library and countries outside the United States carry the size up to four inches.

From the dawn of written language there have miniature "books." As far back as 2000 B.C. evidence of writings in miniature form have been found. Back then it was on scrolls of papyrus, parchment or vellum. But...this blog is all about life here in the United States in the 1800s (primarily) so let's fast-forward to that time.

Miniature books became popular here in the last half of the 1800s. They were easy to carry and easy to conceal in a pocket or satchel. Dictionaries, almanacs, and travel books along with religious books (devotionals, Bibles, and tracts) were the most commonly produced type-set miniature books. Popular works were also miniaturized. For example Sherlock Holmes and Don Quixote.


These books sported beautiful etchings and illustrations and were bound in leather. Some even had gilt edges. Today these older books are sought-after collectibles and range in price from a few hundred dollars into the thousands. Here is The Constitution of the United States of America, published in 1787!

I think just knowing this, that I will have to include one of these miniature books in my next novel!

For some fun examples of miniature books that include pop-up pages and fold-out maps check these websites...

http://mentalfloss.com/article/52186/10-miniature-books-we-covet

http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/miniatures/pages/hazelt.html


And for the worlds's smallest published book ~

Yes--it's that tiny speck under the magnifying glass! Unbelievably, this book is right in my hometown of San Diego where so many of my stories are set! Next time I am there doing research I will have to make a point to stop in to see this at the Central San Diego Library.

In this age of eReaders and eBooks, where an entire encyclopedia of information is at our fingertips in such a slim object, something like a miniature book is hard to imagine. I hope you have enjoyed this very brief introduction and history of them.

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 My newest release ~ Familiar Stranger in Clear Springs ~ is available now!

I am running a Giveaway to celebrate!

Visit my website at www.kathrynalbright.com/events for details and sign up for my newsletter for a chance to win a Swarovski crystal bracelet, Amazon gift card, and a signed copy of Familiar Stranger in Clear Springs.

          

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