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World's Most Beautiful Book to Come to China

Results of the 2008 competition “THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOKS IN THE WORLD” has just been unveiled. A Chinese book, AFTER, published by Tianjin Yangliuqing Fine Art Press, won the prize. This is the fifth consecutive year that books from China have won the title of “the most beautiful book in
the world.”

The competition is held every March in Leipzig, Germany, organized by the "Stiftung Buchkunst" (Germany book art foundation). Competition judges examine about 700 works from 30 countries or so to select the most beautiful of the year.

The main focus is on books as objects of utility. Legibility and factors like size, weight, the color of the paper and its contrast to the script are all factors that are reviewed by the jury, which means that the criterion include not only design but also the concept and perfect technical
workmanship. According to organizers, the beauty of books lies in the fact that they surpass two-dimensional constraints in their cover, design concept, paper, printing and binding. Stiftung Buchkunst demonstrated this in an exhibition featuring titles that won the "Most Beautiful Books in the
World" competition over the past years.

The gold prize winner of the year, designed by Geng Geng and Wang Chengfu, is adorned with an “octopus,” Jiang Nan, editor in charge of the book said. The white-grounding book has an octopus-design on its cover, and an attached garnet slipcase. On first sight after unsealing the book the
result visually impacting and special, he said.

The prize-winning works have been taken on many tours inside Germany and abroad, including to the world's leading book fairs in Frankfurt and Leipzig. This international exhibition introduces more than 200 award-winning titles published in the last 17 years, from 1991 to 2007.

In 2003, The Picture Book of Mei Lanfang's Opera Portfolio from China won the only gold prize. Beginning the same year, Shanghai News and Press Bureau has organized the examination and appraisal of "the Most Beautiful Books in China" in order to select books for the following year's "The Most
Beautiful Book in the World" competition. By the end of last year, there were a total 85 books that have taken part in the Leipzig contest 4 times, and among those 5 have won the award.

Editor: Liu Rong

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