The first copy of the Sachin Tendulkar Opus is almost complete and the Opus Media Group CEO Karl Fowler said that they are waiting for Tendulkar to hammer his 100th ton before its release. The most expensive book ever on cricket has already attracted a huge bid of US$ 350,000.
Fowler said within a two months of Tendulkar scoring his 100th century the book would be ready. "Certainly within 60 days. It'll be one of its last major elements. All Opuses are hand-bound; we don't use machine binding. We're one of the few publishers in the world who still use hand-binding because of the quality that we need in size and scale," Fowler told Mail Today.
"A few years ago, someone had bid US$ 250,000 for copy No. 1. We're beyond that. It's gone up, above $ 350,000. Copy No. 1 we are going to do something special with. We've people who pre-ordered the Tendulkar Opus four years ago."
The Opus would weigh a 37kg, with over 700 pages of more than 1,000 photos.
The first-of-its-kind magnum opus on a cricketer will have only 10 copies of it, each of which will be hand-bound and encased in a fine leather and silk cover. The Opus will also come in different editions as well as in a digital version.
"We are going to do something with the first 10 editions. We are still thinking what the price will be. They'll be special for certain reasons. They'll come with some added features. They may come with some memorabilia from Sachin's playing career," he said.
Two years ago, Fowler had told Mail Today that: "Tendulkar has given us eight of his bats that he has used. We're splitting the wood from the bats and inlaying the scripts of the wood in between two pieces of red leather. So you can see the wood, a long strip, and that'll be inserted into the book as a page marker. Every time you touch a page you are touching history."
© Cricket Country
