GOAT. Champ's Edition

GOAT - GREATEST OF ALL TIME

"... the biggest, heaviest, most radiant thing ever printed in the history of civilization.
- Der Spiegel, Hamburg, October 6, 2003

Muhammad Ali is one of the most remarkable personalities of our time and the greatest sportsman ever to walk the earth. To honor this living legend, TASCHEN has created a work that is epic in scale and as unique and vibrant as the man himself. A worthy tribute to his life should reflect the scale of his achievements, and GOAT – GREATEST OF ALL TIME is fully up to that task:

The Champ's Edition:
No. 1 - 1,000

* The "Champ's Edition" has a white silk cover with pink lettering.

* Limited to 1,000 individually numbered copies, each one signed by Muhammad Ali and Jeff Koons.

* Four gallery-quality silver gelatin prints in the size 50 x 50 cm (20" x 20") signed by photographer Howard L. Bingham and Muhammad Ali:


Muhammad Ali, 1978


Cassius Clay in Louisville, 1963


Ali vs Liston II, 1965


Sitting on a Million Dollars, 1963

* Every "Champ's Edition" comes with the sculpture "Radial Champs" by Jeff Koons. (size 175 x 170 cm, 69" x 67", comprising of 2 inflatables and a stool).

* Over 3,000 images - photographs, art and memorabilia, much of it published for the first time - from over 150 photographers and artists. Original essays and the best interviews and writing on the Champ of the last five decades, from hundreds of writers, totaling 600,000 words.

* XXL-format: 792 pages, including two gatefold sequences measuring 200 cm x 50 cm (80" x 20") and nine gold-metallic double-page spreads printed in silkscreen, open each chapter. Measuring 50 cm x 50 cm (20" x 20"), GOAT tips the scales at 34 kgs (75 lbs).

* Each copy comes in a silk-covered box illustrated with Neil Leifer's iconic 1966 photo, Ali vs Williams.

* Bound by the official bindery for the Vatican, in pink leather, the color of Ali's first Cadillac. The bindery, specializing in the most elaborate and oversized editions of the Bible and the Koran, enforces the strictest standards of quality control and only several hundred copies can be assembled per week.

* Utilizing state-of-the-art digital technology, no expense has been spared to restore the original photographic materials to the highest possible standards. The results of this effort create unparalleled intensity and range in the colors, and exquisite tone and density within the duotone images.

* Eight-color printing on Galaxi Keramik 200 gsm semi-matte paper with gloss varnish on all images.

* Prioritized delivery of GOAT has started in the Spring of 2004. As copies are completed they will ship to customers in the order in which the pre-orders were received.

"Destined to become a collector’s item of extraordinary value."
-The Observer Sport Monthly, London