Abridged nautical books with small etchings (9)

I believe the answer is:

aquatints

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'etchings' is the definition.
(aquatint is a kind of etching)

'abridged nautical books with small' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'books' could be 'nt' (New Testament) and 'nt' is found in the answer.
'small' could be 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size) and 's' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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