Taschen to Publish $1,000 Apollo 11 Book

Posted on June 17, 2009

Taschen, a publisher of illustrated books, is going to publish a book about the Apollo 11 moon landing to coincide with the 40th anniversary. The 350-pg book called Norman Mailer, MoonFire: The Epic Journey of Apollo 11 goes on sale July 15th. 12 of the 1,969 published copies will come with a certified fragment of moon meteorite. The books without the meteorite will cost $1,000. The "Lunar Rock" editions will likely cost substantially more but the price has not yet been determined. The special moon rock editions will also come with cases designed by Marc Newson.

Publisher Benedikt Taschen told Publishers Weekly that they are "confident that the 1,969 copies will sell out very quickly."

Norman Mailer was hired by Life magazine in 1969 to cover the moonshot. The publisher says Mailer's three-part feature in Life was the longest nonfiction piece the magazine had ever published. He enhanced and extended his reportage in Moonfire.