Good Morning,

The latest addition to the State Library’s rich collections – a mammoth atlas standing at almost two metres tall – is on public display in the Mitchell Library Reading Room until 19 July 2015.

Earth Platinum is the world’s largest atlas, according to the Guinness World Records, with pages spanning 2.7 metres when opened. Only 31 copies of the 150 kilo, limited edition atlas were released by publisher Millennium House (Sydney) in 2012 – the State Library holds Australia’s only copy. It joins the Library’s copy of the world’s first atlas, produced in 1570 by Ortelius.

More than 100 international cartographers, geographers and photographers from across the globe were involved in the production.The atlas’s 128 pages contain 61 pages of maps, 27 images of famous locations (including St.Peter's Basilica, the Antarctic and Machu Picchu) and a double-page spread of the world’s national flags. Many of the images were made from stitching together 1,000 individual photos, and the largest image has 12,000 photos joined together.

The atlas was printed in Italy and bound in Hong Kong. Now Australians can see it in person for the first time at the State Library of NSW.

Page turnings every Friday at 1.15 pm.

ABC online has posted this story: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-19/world-largest-book-atlas-display-state-library-nsw/6557960

Thanks,

Maggie

Maggie Patton | Manager Research and Discovery, Library & Information Services Macquarie Street Sydney NSW 2000 Australia T: +61 2 92731709 E: [log in to unmask] www.sl.nsw.gov.au