The world’s biggest book fair in Frankfurt is used to seeing some big book launches, but none came larger than a two-by-three-meter atlas unveiled last Wednesday.
Yours for a cool US$100,000, Australian publisher Gordon Cheers said that the last book even close in size to his 128-page volume was the Klencke Atlas, produced in 1660 as a gift for Charles II of England.
“But that was about one foot smaller than this,” Cheers proudly told AFP. “This is the first time a book this size has ever been seen.”
Just to turn a page takes all his strength and the book took people three hours to get into position for visitors to the Frankfurt Book Fair, which ran until yesterday.
This makes his Atlas the antithesis of this year’s book fair, which is devoted to smart, mobile content.
“It’s all about creating a legacy,” the Sydney-based publisher said. “Today, everything is digital and it’s gone in a second. This will still be around in 500 years.”
The book took around a month to produce and Cheers is limiting the print run of his monster atlas to 31. He has already sold two volumes to museums in the United Arab Emirates and is confident he will sell the whole lot.
Cheers worked for British publishing giants Penguin and then Random House, but neither firm was interested in his project, so he left to found his own company, he said.
The book contains maps of whole continents, as well as sharp images of famous sites collaged together from 1,000 individual pictures.
As far as he knows, no one else is producing books on this scale.
“I think we’re the only ones crazy enough,” quipped Cheers.
(afp)
許多出版品會趁著德國法蘭克福世界最大的書展,大張旗鼓地宣傳,但說到大小尺寸,沒有一本比上週三公諸於世的這本二乘三公尺大的地圖集還要來得大。
這本書的造價為十萬美元。澳洲出版商戈登‧契爾斯表示,上一本在尺寸上與他這本一百二十八頁相當的,就是一六六零年出版的克蘭基地圖集,當年是送給英國國王查爾斯二世的禮物。
契爾斯驕傲地告訴法新社,「但那一本比這一本小了大約一英尺。這是首次這麼大本的書公諸於世。」
哪怕只是要翻一頁,就得花契爾斯全身的力氣。而書展人員花了三小時,才把這本書擺好給參觀民眾欣賞。法蘭克福書展直至昨日(十日)方結束。
這本地圖集與今年的書展精神大異其趣,本屆書展展示的主題為靈巧與機動性高的產品。
這位雪梨的出版商表示,「這還不就是為了創造歷史。現在所有的東西都數位化,但一下子就消失了。這本書五百年後還會存在著。」
這本巨大地圖集製作花了大約一個月,而契爾斯將印刷數量限定於三十一本。他已成功地在阿拉伯聯合大公國的博物館賣出兩本,並且有自信把全數地圖集賣光。
契爾斯曾經在英國出版巨擘企鵝出版社與蘭登書屋等工作。但沒有一家公司對他的計畫有興趣,所以就創了自己的公司。
這本書許多地圖範圍涵蓋整個洲,以及利用千餘張不同照片所拼貼而成的著名地點圖像。
根據契爾斯的了解,除了他以外沒有人製作這種尺寸的書本。
他打趣地說,「我想我們是唯一夠瘋狂的一群。」
(法新社/翻譯:吳岱璟)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110