THE IDIOT: THE PENGUIN BOOKS 60TH ANNIVERSARY ARTIST BOOK by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor (Author) & Arad, Ron (Architect/designer) - 2006

London, England: Penguin/Penguin Designer Classics, 2006. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/As New Dust Jacket.. London, England: Penguin/Penguin Designer Classics, 2006. Hardcover. As New/As New. First Edition/First Printing. 704 pages. Artist Book. One of the most beautiful Artist Book interpretations of the classic ever created. Limited Edition of one numbered and signed copy. Should not be confused with the Limited Edition of 1000 copies. The Limited Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Ron Arad: Oversize-volume format. The book weighs 4 pounds. Text by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Art by Ron Arad. White cardboard box. Printed on archival acid-free stock paper in the United Kingdom to the highest standards. In transparent Plexiglas ("Perspex") box, which serves as the book's DJ, as issued. Rather than just an outer slipcase, it is completely integral to the book. Published on the occasion of Penguin Book's 60th Anniversary, "The Idiot" is one of five classics that the publisher issued in a Limited Edition by commissioning five of the world's most important artists in their respective fields. The other titles are Gustave Flaubert's "Madame Bovary", D. H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover", F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is The Night: A Romance", and Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "Crime And Punishment" (he is the only novelist to be honored with two masterpieces in the Series). Penguin held a global auction of the "Number 1" signed copy of each title on the day of its 60th Anniversary in 2006. Re-presents Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot". Ron Arad's Artist Book rendition: The ultimate book-as-object, the literary classic as work of art, worthy of Penguin's auspicious celebration and of posterity. "Arad's book has no cover so the reader will pick it up and read the author's first words. It is stripped back to show the glue and thread in the spine which is visible through an acrylic slipcase with a fresnel lens so the text appears to move as the lid is removed" (Publisher's blurb). "By not wanting to have a cover, it ended with the book becoming an amazing object that is alive, but which maintains its transparency. It becomes a glorious box with a book inside, almost like a monument" (Ron Arad). Said like a true architect who has worked for the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou Paris, the Vitra Design Museum Germany, and the Victoria & Albert Museum London. An absolute "must-have" title for Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Ron Arad collectors. <b><i> This copy of the Limited Edition is Number 1, indicated as such on the Back Limitation Page. It is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the first page by Ron Arad. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great book. This is the only such signed copy of the Limited Edition available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: By special arrangement with Penguin, Ron Arad signed only the first copy of the Limited Edition. A rare signed copy thus. </b></i> One of the greatest novels of all time, re-interpreted by one of the most brilliant architect/designers of our time. A fine collectible copy. . ISBN 0713999659.