Dictionary

You’ll need more than glasses for this miniature dictionary. It takes a microscope to decipher the tiny print inside. Less than two centimetres long, Bryce’s English Dictionary was marketed as the world’s smallest dictionary when it was produced by David Bryce and his son in Glasgow in the 1900s. It came complete with a tin case with a magnifying glass inserted to help make out the 380-odd words on each tiny page. Bryce published several mini books using a process known as photographic reduction. Most copies of Bryce’s miniature dictionary had an advertisement for Pears soap on the back cover and were supplied along with a soap purchase!