Would you Pay $3,500 for a UFC Octagon Book?
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007I don’t know of any other way to present this book than to give the official press release. My jaw dropped when I saw the price… Zuffa / UFC and Kevin Lynch will be releasing a $2,500 – $3,500 book titled Octagon!.. Here’s the PR:
“Photographed by Los Angeles-based artist Kevin Lynch, the book features an essay by noted art historian and cultural critic, Dave Hickey, and a Foreword written by the playwright and film-maker David Mamet. At 20.5 x 26 inches, 392 pages, and over 800 four-color and black-and-white photographs, printed and hand bound in Italy. Octagon weighs in at over 50 lbs. The Collector’s Edition of 450 retails from $2,500, and the Deluxe Collector’s Edition of 150 featuring a signed and numbered 16 x 20 inch C- print, retails from $3,500.
The book’s context is the rise of a new sport called Mixed Martial Arts that combines boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Its practitioners are some of the most elite athletes found in any sport; many of whom are former Olympians, Pan American Games and NCAA champions. Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC as it is more commonly known, is the premier organization in this fascinating and popular sport that has overtaken boxing as the viewing choice among its fans.
“When I started this book six years ago, I was chronicling something that I found interesting. Gradually, as the sport grew in popularity, I knew that I was in fact documenting something visually poetic in the tradition of George Bellows, Helmut Newton’s “SUMO” and Taschen’s GOAT,” said Kevin Lynch. “People find the work highly compelling and complicated because fighting is as old as the universe. When the rest of the world shared the obsession for the UFC with me, I knew a book was critical to passing on the passion, personalities and scale of this great sport”
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To learn more about the book, visit the Octagon Book Homepage.