Italian company Litorama div Igap has printed what is expected to be a record-breaking atlas, with a weight of 150kg, a surface area of 2.52sq m and measurements of 1.8 x 1.4m.

The 31 limited-edition copies of the leather-bound Earth Platinum each have a price tag of $100,000 (￡64,000) and were printed on superwide-format 9,000sph KBA Rapida 205 presses before being finished and bound by Hong Kong's Sunflower Bindery.

Earth Platinum is expected to earn a place in Guinness World Records

"The print quality delivered by the KBA Rapida 205 is fantastic," comments Gordon Cheers, managing director of Earth Platinum's publisher Millennium House. The Australian company has already won several cartographic awards for its atlases.

"I don't know how we would have produced Earth Platinum without this awesome machine. We at Millennium House are working on the production of another extraordinary book and hope to collaborate with KBA once again to bring it to completion."

Milan-based Litorama div Igap purchased two KBA Rapida 205 machines seven years ago, says KBA.