FASHION : Small but Mighty

They may lack physical stature, but the mini-books of publisher Alfred A. Knopf’s new series--Chic Simple Components--are just as weighty as many of their big and tall counterparts.

The 4-by-5-inch hardback volumes--titled “Bath,” “Scarves,” “Scents” and “Shirt and Tie”--weave artsy photographs into airy text imbued with history, little-known facts, pithy quotes and instructions, such as “How to Take a Bath Like a Child”:

“As a scientific experiment, scrunch up at one end of the tub and slosh back and forth really, really fast, to determine how much water you can displace out of the tub and onto the bathroom floor.”

Each of these primers “for living well but sensibly in the ‘90s,” as Knopf puts it, quits after 90 pages or so of easy, sometimes funny reading and costs $12.50. And the little things fit in most any stocking.