In France, Joseph Forêt’s 210 kg book «Apocalypse» was stolen

The theft took place on the night of October 4 to 5 at the Center for Contemporary Art in Issoire, Puy-de-Dôme department, France. The Clermont-Ferrand prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation and assigned it to the Clermont-Ferrand gendarmerie section, RBC reports.

This is the book “Apocalypse” by Joseph Forêt, a work inspired by the Revelation of John the Theologian. In 1958, it was valued at 2 million francs and called the most expensive book in the world, and today the value of the edition is estimated at several million euros.

The bronze cover, created by Salvador Dalí and decorated with precious stones, weighs about 150 kg, while the book’s total weight is 210 kg. When unfolded, it reaches 150 m and includes 150 large parchment sheets with handwritten text and about 95,000 calligraphically written letters. Fourteen 20th-century artists and writers worked on “Apocalypse”, including Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau, Jean Juno, and Emil Cioran. In 2003, the work was bought by a French collector of Greek origin, Christian Karoutzos, who purchased it from owners in Japan to prevent it from being sold off in parts at auction. From 1961 to 1972, the book was displayed at 146 exhibitions around the world, and 25 craft workshops took part in its creation.