At 35kgs, boxed, bound in leather and with silver edging it seems an understatement to call the newly published Atlas EARTH a weighty tome. It has taken Australian author the best part of twenty years to put this 580 page monster together. Arguably the most awesome-sounding feature is a fold out photo of the earth at night that measures two meters across.

More details after the jump.

In order to produce EARTH, Cheers called upon the support of about 100 cartographers, oceanographers and geographers. When you combine that with the cost of supporting 50 editors to select facts and photos from National Geographic archives, you get the idea that Cheers probably put it all on the line with this project. When every mainstream publisher rejected the project (he was already a best-selling author), he created his own publishing company and did it himself.

The cosmetic features of the box, the leather binding and the edging serve another purpose, they protect the book from the elements. This is something that is designed to do more than just look good; it is designed to last and to do so for a long, long time.

So how much does this backbreaking hernia-inducer cost? The limited edition and silver edition, of which 3000 and 2000 copies will be published, respectively cost $5000 apiece. If that doesn’t float your boat, or sound expensive enough, there is also a gold edition that will see 1,000 copies produced (pricing is not available and we are guessing it is in the if you have to ask category).

The Millennium House website has a Flash preview that you can download or browse online, which is well worth checking out. [Millennium House via The Age]

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