World's most expensive book goes on display

A huge handmade work on the life and work of Michelangelo, billed as the world’s most expensive, most beautiful new book, has arrived at the New York Public Library, fresh from publication in Italy.

Costing €100,000, the 62lb velvet and marble-bound book will go on public display next Tuesday.

“I did it because I’m a crazy woman!” joked Marilena Ferrari, the Italian publisher who produced the extravagance – each book takes six months to craft, using Italian artisan skills dating to the Renaissance.

“I love books,” she said from Bologna, Italy, where she is president of a company called FMR, which publishes fine books about art.

“This book is meant as a provocation. Books are being destroyed by the internet, they’re losing their identity – it’s the modern, internet version of burning books. Today, things last so little before they disappear.”

To make her point, the Michelangelo book has a 500-year warranty – as long as his art has lasted.

The book, 'Michelangelo. La Dotta Mano', meaning “the learned hand”, has a front cover made of white marble from Michelangelo’s favourite quarry in Carrara.

The binding is covered with a red silk velvet handmade by the same shop in southern Italy as the main stage curtains at The Metropolitan Opera and Milan’s Teatro Alla Scala.

The display book was donated to the New York Public Library, a second to the Prado museum in Madrid and a third to the city of Bologna. In addition, more than 20 books have been sold so far to buyers around Europe and as far away as Malaysia, Ms Ferrari says.