SMALLEST IN WORLD

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 129, 16 March 1950, Page 4

SMALLEST IN WORLD

TINY DICTIONARY RECOVERED GIFT TO LIBRARY (P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Half a century ago in Melbourne a minute, dictionary in a metal case: formed one of a little girl’s treasures. Somehow it found its way into a narrow-waisted; vase, and there it stuck until last Tuesday, when it was retrieved by Mrs J. Knox Graham, of Kelburn, who lost it as a little girl. The dictionary, in the metal case that opened and shut with a satisfying click, had been in Mrs Graham’s mother’s family for two generations, having come to Australia, it was believed, with the Rev. John Hiskens, the first Wesleyan Minister to be appointed to Colac, Victoria. It was more than 50 years ago that the case, with the dictionary inside it, somehow found its way into the narrow waist of a’ valuable vase, from where, in spite of the small girl’s agitation, it refused to budge. Later the vase travelled to Wellington.with Mrs Graham. Until this week, too precious to break open, it has held the dictionary captive. Then on Tttes day, as a result of half a century’s corrosion, the case suddenly became free. The dictionary was found to be in jj, good state of preservation, and Mrs Graham has offered it to the Alexander Turnbull Library. The volume measures one and oneeighth inches by five-eighths. It contains 400 pages, and lists nearly 14,000 words which can be read with the naked eye. On its title leaf is the pronouncement: “The Smallest Dictionary in the W’orld.” It was printed in Glasgow, but it is not apparent whether the publishers, David Bryce and Sons, 'marketed “the wee book,” with an idea of saving paper or of entering the novelty business. Their acumen, however, is not.in doubt, as the title leaf also bears a warning that all rights are reserved. •