Literally "bean book," the term mamehon "is used by Japanese bibliophiles for a book smaller than an ordinary pocket book, which has been artistically printed and bound, issued in a limited edition, and made exclusively to appeal to the refined taste of a collector."[1] Although miniature books have a history going back to the Edo period, modern mamehon date from the post-war period, with the first books issued in 1953. Modern mamehon are roughly 4 x 3 in. (10 x 8 cm) and contain graphic art, essays, poems and stories. The art generally takes the form of line drawings. etchings and prints, woodblock and even potato prints tipped into pages. The books were generally string bound, knotted or stitched. 

This collection's mamehon, two issues of Ezo Mamehon えぞ まめほん and four issues of Kyūshū Mamehon 九州 まめほん, were both first published in March 1953.[2] They were sold exclusively to members of their respective book clubs, the Hokkaidō mamehon no kai (Hokkaidō Miniature Book Association) and the Kyūshū mamehon no kai (Kyūshū Miniature Book Association). Ezo Mamehon was published by Satō Yoshirō 佐藤与四郎, a Western-style painter who started the publication after his retirement from the Otaru shinbun. It ran for thirty-seven issues until Satō's death in 1962. Kyūshū Mamehon was discontinued after twenty-four issues (plus a supplemental volume) due to the illness of its publisher Mizutani Mamoru 水谷護.[3]

During the golden age of post-war mamehon from 1953 to the early 1960s, these regional miniature art books were published in Tokyo, Fūryū Mamehon; Aomori, Aomori Mamehon; Sakata, Yamagata, Michinoku Mamehon; Shimane Prefecture, San'in Mamehon; Niigata, Echigo Mamehon among other locales.