According to the World Record Academy, Tokyo-based Toppan Printing has set a new world record for the `smallest printed book,' by printing a micro-book - titled `Shiki no Kusabana' (flowers of seasons) - which is as small as the eye of a needle.

The 22-page micro-book printed by Toppan Printing contains the names as well as microscopic monochrome illustrations of Japanese flowers such as the cherry and the plum. As per the publishing company, the size of the pages of the book is 0.75 millimeter - or 0.03 inch - and the letters are only 0.01 mm wide; thereby making it impossible to read the book with the naked eye.

Toppan, which has been printing micro-books since 1964, said that the technology which it used for printing the tiny letters used in `Shiki no Kusabana' was the same as the one used by money printers for preventing forgery.

For claiming the title of the `world's smallest book' for `Shiki no Kusabana' Toppan intends submitting an application to Guinness World Records. At present, the record of the world's smallest book is held by a 0.9 mm volume which has been published in Russia.

`Shiki no Kusabana' has been put on display at Toppan's Printing Museum in Tokyo; and the bigger copy of the micro-book, along with a magnifying glass, is available for 29,400 yen ($307).