Designed to be as exclusive as a car from Maranello, a new retrospective book on Ferrari by Taschen will be limited to only 1,947 copies — celebrating Ferrari’s foundation year of 1947 — and cost up to $30,000.
For that price, collectors can aspire to get one of only 250 Art edition copies, which feature a sculptural steel and chrome bookstand and a copy of the book enclosed in an aluminum display case, both designed by Marc Newson.
Together, the case and the bookstand are meant to replicate the essential shapes of a Ferrari 12-cylinder engine.
Newson, one of the world’s most influential industrial designers, has created everything from sneakers to speedboats and is also a car enthusiast who often races one of his vintage sports cars in the Mille Miglia, a classic four-day race between Brescia, Italy, and Rome.
The remaining 1,697 Collector’s edition copies, going for $6,000 each, will be offered with just the aluminum case instead. The hefty volume — 514 pages and 12.7 by 17 inches — is hand-stitched and sports a minimalistic cover design with a silver prancing horse over a racing red background.
All copies are also signed by Piero Ferrari, the company’s vice chairman and the only living son of founder Enzo Ferrari. The ultra-limited Art edition copies also carry the signatures of John Elkann, Ferrari’s current chairman, and the late Sergio Marchionne, who was the CEO of Ferrari and its former parent company Fiat Chrysler until shortly before his death last week.
The book, edited by Pino Allievi, is the result of a close collaboration with the scuderia, and includes hundreds of unseen photographs and documents from the Ferrari Archives and private collections from around the world. Allievi, a longtime Ferrari historian, worked with Enzo Ferrari on the 1998 book “Ferrari Racconta.”
The upcoming book, titled simply “Ferrari,” will be published in October.
