And you thought War and Peace was long

Both New York magazine and Details featured a fascinating book in their most recent issues. The book in question, Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made.

Ok, Kubrick is a famous director and Napoleon is certainly a major historical figure, but why the attention to this book? Let’s hear from publisher Taschen:

“Ten books in one tell the fascinating tale of Kubrick’s unfilmed masterpiece

Tucked inside of a carved-out book, all the elements from Stanley Kubrick’s archives that readers need to imagine what his unmade film about the emperor might have been like, including a facsimile of the script. This collector’s edition is limited to 1,000 numbered copies.”

Hmm, that sounds interesting. Tell me more:

“TASCHEN’s sumptuous, limited-edition tribute to this unmade masterpiece makes Kubrick’s valiant work on “Napoleon” available to fans for the first time. Herein, readers can peruse a selection of Kubrick’s correspondence, various costume studies, location scouting photographs, research material, script drafts, and more, each category of material in its own book. Kubrick’s final draft is reproduced in facsimile while the other texts are tidily kenneled into one volume where they dare not interfere with the visual material. All of these books are tucked inside of—or shall we say hiding in?—a carved-out reproduction of a Napoleon history book.”

 Wow, now this is a story in and of itself. Wait, what else do I get?

“Unlimited accessto online image library: 17,000 Napoleonic images downloadable.”

This is crazy, how much does it cost?