Millennium House, an Australian publishing house, has recently unveiled the biggest world atlas of all time. Based in Sydney, the company specializes in the production of exclusive books.
Titled Earth Platinum, this limited edition leather-bound work was printed at the end of last year near Milan on the world's biggest sheetfed offset press - a KBA Rapida 205. The press, owned and operated by Italian printer Litorama div. Igap, has a 1510 x 2050mm format. The company was established in 1881 as Impresa Generale Affissioni e Pubblicita (IGAP) and is the oldest, largest and most successful poster printer in Italy.
Measuring 1.8m x 1.5m, the atlas weighs over 330 lbs! Only 31 copies were produced, and each one has a selling price of $100,000. 24 photographers, 88 cartographers and geographers, plus a large number of computer specialists are responsible for fashioning this unique book.
Truly a worldwide effort, the atlas was finished and bound by Sunflower Bindery in Hong Kong.
This exceptional print job was awarded to an Italian printer following a worldwide selection procedure. It seems that Italian book printers enjoy a global reputation - this isn't the first time they have hit the headlines. In 2003, a massive biography of boxing champion Muhammad Ali called Greatest of all Time was published to celebrate Ali's 70th birthday. It was printed by Italian firms Arti Grafiche Leva, based in Sesto San Giovanni; and Canale, based in Turin.
A recent news release explains:
Acclaimed by the international press at the time as the most gigantic book in the history of literary culture, this mammoth work [the Ali Biography] is surpassed by the Earth Platinum world atlas both optically and in terms of the technological challenges entailed. With a surface area of 2.52 sq. m., Earth Platinum is sure of a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
