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）
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