Bibelot

Bibelot (pronounced bib-loh or beebuh-loh (French))

(1) A small object of curiosity, beauty, or rarity.

(2) A miniature book of elegant design, often produced in sets, usually in decorative packaging.

(3) By extension, in casual use, smaller versions of things.

1873: From the French bibelot, the construct being bibel- (expressive formation akin to bauble (knick-knack)) + -ot (the noun suffix), from the twelfth century Old French beubelet (trinket, jewel) from belbel (plaything); most etymologists have concluded it a reduplication of bel (pretty; beautiful).  The related forms (rare but used in both French & English) are bibeloter, bibeloteur & bibelotier; the noun plural is bibelots.

Bibelot is sometimes used as a synonym for objects which properly would be better described as kitsch, bauble, curio, curiosity, gaud, naff, gewgaw, gimcrack, knickknack, novelty, ornament, trifle, whatnot or trinket.  Antique dealers are sometimes inclined to use the label to add a little to both an item’s status and its price tag.  A Bibelot really is a subset of the miniature market, covering those objects which should have some of all of certain characteristics: exquisite, intricate or exceptionally beautiful.

Pair of Art Deco marble bookends (circa 1933).There are some who insist a bibelot must exclusively be decorative and thus ashtrays, bookends etc, being functional, are something else but most prefer to judge objects on their merits.

The Bibelot was an annual literary anthology, published between 1895-1914 by Thomas Bird Mosher (1852-1923) whose imprint operated out of Portland, Maine.  The Mosher Bibelot was unusual in that it featured the lesser known works of writers such as Algernon Charles Swinburne, William Morris, Arthur Symons, DG Rossetti, Austin Dobson, JA Symonds, Robert Louis Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, and Fiona MacLeod.  Following Mosher’s death, a limited edition, 21 volume "Testimonial Edition" was printed by William H Wise & Co.

More in the tradition of bibelots publishing was a series of twenty nine reprints in miniature (5 inches x 2¾ inches (80mm x 70mm)) of a number of English classics, edited by John Potter Briscoe (1868-1916) and published by Gay & Bird of London.  One especially popular genre chosen for bibelot editions was dictionaries and some were distributed in cases with built-in magnifying glasses.

In the satisfying though ephemeral world of the pâtissier (pâtissière the feminine) and chocolatier (chocolatière), the word bibelot is often appropriated to describe the small, sometimes bite-sized creations to which the sweet-toothed are understandably so drawn.  Sometimes, places which specialize in such temptations even adopt the name.

L'Inde A Paris; Le Bibelot Exotique (India in Paris: The Exotic Curio) (circa 1860), oil on canvas by Alfred Stevens (1823-1906)