You can try calling your bookmaker about placing a bet on La Dotta Mano, but after checking the entries at Pimlico he will tell you there’s no such nag. That’s because it’s not the name of a horse. It’s the name of a book.

Oops – wrong bookmaker. The makers of this particular book are skilled Old World craftsmen hand-sculpting a Carrara marble-bound edition of plates of Michaelangelo drawings and sculptures. A copy of the extremely limited edition goes on exhibit today at the New York Public Library, as reported by David Carr in the New York Times. “La Dotta Mano” means “The Wise Hand” and the work is arguably il piu bello libro nel mondo.

It may also be il piu pesante – the world’s heaviest. We thought Phaidon’s 800 page Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture was heavy at fifteen pounds. La Dotta Mano weighs in at about sixty-two. Around the size of a Siberian Husky, except you don’t wear white gloves to shlep a Siberian Husky. You’d better wear them to protect your investment if you browse La Dotta Mano, however – the book sells for 100,000 Euros. Despite the price, some twenty bibliophiles have purchased it. They are undoubtedly reinforcing their bookshelves as we speak.

For more about the genesis of this remarkable book, click here. And check out this video of the cover being produced.

RC