bibelot

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small decorative object, curiosity, or trinket, often collected for its beauty

   The cabinet displayed porcelain figures and other delicate bibelots.

2. 2
   noun

   a small, elegantly produced book, especially one valued as a decorative object

   The press issued the poems as a gilt-edged bibelot for collectors.

Borrowed in the nineteenth century from French bibelot, 'small decorative object or curiosity,' a word of uncertain origin. English also developed a specialized publishing sense for a small, finely designed book treated almost as an art object.

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