Random Musings: World's Largest Book

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For some reason, last night as I was falling asleep, I started wondering about the world's largest book. I have this huge board, 4 foot by 8 foot, in my studio and I was imagining how I would make it into a coptic-stitch bound book using rope. (Books were on my mind, I think, because I made two finished journals and two almost finished ones yesterday.) I asked Nick how big he thought the world's biggest book would be, and he, half asleep, muttered a number that seemed way too small. No, I said, I bet it's huge. Well, he said, I'm sorry, but I'm too tired to look. I wasn't going to get up to research it either, and figured I'd probably forget all about it by morning. And I did. But Nick didn't.

So what do you think? How big is the world's biggest book? According to Nick's research, this is it:

Source: http://www.luxuo.com/events/worlds-biggest-atlas-book-fair-frankfurt.html

The 128-page page atlas measures 6 x 9 feet and debuted at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2010. It's part of a limited edition run of 31 and has 128 pages. The article states that the book took three hours to get into position for the book fair and requires a man's full strength to turn the pages. I think it would be so cool to see this book in person. Maybe the RISD museum will buy one?

Second in line to the atlas is Bhutan, a book published by Michael Hawley of the MIT Media Lab in 2003.

Source: http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/exhibits/bhutan/book1.jpg

"Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom" weighs in at more than 130 pounds and stands at five by seven feet, nearly as big as a Ping-Pong table. The book features more than 100 pages of spectacular images of a country often referred to as "the last Shangri-la," and showcases a variety of new digital, photographic and printing techniques.

The rest of the MIT press release details the making of the book and is definitely worth a read.

The third largest book, 2nd largest atlas, is the Klencke Atlas, which was presented to Charles II of England on his restoration.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/26/klencke-atlas-british-library-exhibition

The book, owned by the British Library, is 350 years old and measures 5ft 10in by 3ft 5 in. It's 4 inches thick.

Here's an interesting entry on Wikipedia about the world's largest stone book, which stands upright and resides in the Kuthodaw Pagoda in Myanmar. It's not the type of book I was thinking about when I thought about giant books, but it's still worth a read! (The entry I mean, not sure about the book!)

Stop back tomorrow and we'll talk about books at the opposite end of the spectrum! How small do you think a book can be?