How black can a book be? Answer: as black as the colour of its paper. A bold choice, though of course here it is entirely appropriate to the subject – the slag heaps that Witho Worms photographed at a variety of places in Europe, and for each of which he used coal found in the heap to make the pigment for his prints.
That it works so well is also in part down to the unusual method of printing, which alongside cyan, magenta and yellow used two layers of white ink on the black paper. Inside, all the texts are white on black, and it works: the texts are perfectly legible.
But this book also carries conviction on other fronts: a superbly sober cover, with the silhouette of a black slag heap and on it a few delicate saplings – barely visible – and the vertically placed title running from front to back by way of the spine: brilliant. But format and binding too – everything, in fact – has been treated with the same care. A unique book.
Gold medal, Best Book Design from all over the World, Leipzig 2013