Italian Luxury Auto Maker Ferrari unveiled a $ 250000 Diamond Encrusted Book

Italian luxury auto maker Ferrari on 1 December 2011 unveiled a $ 250000 (over Rs 1.25 crore) diamond encrusted book depicting the history of the car maker. Antonio Ghini, Ferrari's longstanding communications director and editor-in-chief of The Ferrari Official Magazine was the creative advisor of the book, which was edited and designed by a team led by Ezster Karpati.

The book’s description

The book weighs 37 kg and has a 30-carat diamond studded Ferrari horse with about 1500 selected stones. The edition  of the book, Enzo Diamante is limited to one copy per country. Ferrari India and Opus Media Group unveiled the Enzo Diamante's only edition for India is one of the most expensive books in India.

The special edition is presented in a bespoke hand-crafted black carbon-fibre case, features three signature sheets, bearing those of the current Ferrari drivers in addition to former world champions.

The leather cover binding sports a 16x12cm silver prancing horse - the Ferrari logo - encrusted with diamonds totaling 32.3 carats. The book has been personally signed by Ferrari F1 world champions such as Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso on a silver foil signature sheet, racing legends and current F1 drivers. It also bares a personal note by the Ferrari president.

Content of the book

The official Ferrari Opus contains two lakh words and over 2000 pictures across 852 pages. Many of the photographs were specially commissioned or sourced from Ferrari's archives and were not published earlier.

The 852-page book features more than 1000 images put together to paint the history of the iconic Ferrari.
The Opus includes two metre long gatefold images as well as exclusive interviews with the motorsport legends who were part of Ferrari's unique history.

The Ferrari Opus (diamante edition) traces the company's history from the time of its inception. With only one book being printed per country, India stands on number 63.

The contributors to the book include legendary portrait photographer Rankin, Enzo Ferrari's biographer Leo Turrini, famous Ferrari designer Mauro Forgheiri, design guru Stephen Bayley and world champions like Niki Lauda, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.