A fireproof version of “The Handmaid’s Tale” just sold for $130,000
The one-of-one book uses inks that are stable up to 2200°F printed on fire-resistant paper
If you want to burn the fireproof edition of Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale, you’re going to need a lot of heat, and no, a flamethrower won’t do the trick.
Atwood’s one-of-one nonflammable “The Unburnable Book” (2022) uses materials found in electrical components and aerospace manufacturing, with inks that are stable up to 2200°F printed on fire-resistant paper. Atwood tested it herself using a flamethrower for a promotional video for the Sotheby’s auction, where it sold Tuesday for $130,000.
The book was produced by Toronto bookbinding atelier The Gas Company Inc. and print-and-bindery master craftsman Jeremy Martin, with cover art by Noma Bar, who designed minimalist covers for The Handmaid’s Tale, 1984, and Brave New World in 2018.
Proceeds from the auction are going to efforts to fight book banning by PEN America, a 100-year-old organization that promotes free speech and included Robert Frost among its founding members.
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement the proceeds from the sale would “go far to ensuring we can have an impact against this urgent wildfire of book banning and educational gag orders.”
There have been at least 1,586 instances of public school book bans between July 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, according to a recent PEN America report. The bans encompass 1,145 book titles by 874 authors in 26 states. Books with LGBTQ topics or queer protagonists or secondary characters account for 33% of the banned titles, and books with protagonists of color make up 41%, per the report.
The Handmaid’s Tale was ranked No. 29 on the American Library Association’s list of the 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books of the 2010s, and it continues to be targeted. Just last month, one Idaho school district banned it along with 21 other books.
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