EARTH, the masterpiece atlas, created by the award-winning Australian publishing company, Millennium House, has achieved near-total sell-out at the 19th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF), drawing praise for the high quality of book readership in the UAE.
Both EARTH, a 580-page, 20-kilogram collector’s tome, and EARTH Concise, a more handy edition of the atlas, proved to be the centre of attraction at the prestigious book fair.
Gordon Cheers, Managing Director of Millennium House, said:
“The degree of interest EARTH has created among book lovers here in the UAE is beyond all our expectations. We knew the rarity of this exclusive atlas had already caught the attention of book lovers in the UAE. But the excitement they showed to know more about it has surprised us. Despite the present economic slowdown, more copies have been sold than we expected. This clearly shows how much EARTH has captivated the discerning collectors here. This also proves that love for rare reference books goes beyond economic considerations.
His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister of the UAE, who opened the Book Fair, expressed his appreciation by personally signing a copy of EARTH. Millennium House will donate this copy of the Royal Blue edition to the Red Crescent for auction.
Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, which had plans to buy one copy of the Dhs 15,000 Royal Blue EARTH, ended up ordering two copies of the invaluable reference book.
Mrs. Leah Miraflores-Zimmermann--- from Abu Dhabi-, too, finally won her EARTH chase in Abu Dhabi. Greatly fascinated by its artistic and information value, this avid book connoisseur had been following the atlas around the world, until she made her rendezvous with a Dhs15,000 Royal Blue edition at the ADIBF.
Mr Cheers said:
“We feel that it is going to be a complete sell-out of EARTH at the ADIBF. We had eight copies of the Royal Blue edition and 10 copies of the Imperial Gold edition presented at the Fair. The fact that this is the final public appearance of EARTH in the UAE has also caused higher interest among the public. The quality of book readership in the country is highly commendable.”
EARTH Concise, which won the International Map Trade Award (IMTA) for Best Book in 2008, also proved very popular at the Abu Dhabi book fair. Priced at an affordable Dhs 340, this highly useful educational tool is targetted at schools and families.
EARTH represents the fulfillment of a 20-year dream by Gordon Cheers and has been on a journey around the world since October when it was published in Sydney. Once the targeted 1,000 copies of the Imperial Gold edition and 2,000 copies of the Royal Blue edition are printed, the plates will be destroyed. This will leave behind a highly exclusive group of individuals and institutions to own a copy of EARTH.
Each hand-bound, numbered copy is signed by Gordon Cheers for authenticity, EARTH has redefined cartography and publishing excellence. A team of over 100 cartographers, oceanographers and geographers produced and collated 355 maps, covering 170 countries, making it a time capsule of Planet Earth. Each of the four gatefolds extends to over two metrs in length.
Millennium House has registered total sales of some of its other high quality reference titles, including Historicas Women, Natural Disasters and Dateline, which target niche readership.
The ADIBF marks the return of EARTH to the UAE after the successful debut at Sharjah World Book Fair in 2008. The outstanding response from book lovers, collectors and institutions in the region has prompted Millennium House to consider an Arabic edition.
