A família Resendes: Bruna, Ernesto e Milton. (© Paulo R. Cabral)

29,694 pages and 170 kg (about 270 pounds): the largest book in Portuguese produced at Nova Gráfica in Ponta Delgada, Azores.

Bringing together 150 titles by 263 authors, the book “Açorianidade no Tempo” is the largest book published in Portuguese to date and was presented on November 28 in Ponta Delgada, in Teatro Micaelense.

The project was led by Nova Gráfica and consists of 29,694 pages in a 23 cm x 32 cm format, with a 2.61 m spine and a weight of 170 kg (about 370 pounds). Two copies were produced.
Images of Vitorino Nemésio, Natália Correia, Antero de Quental, and Gaspar Frutuoso, among many others, were chosen for the book’s cover and spine. Inside, there are different themes such as history, widespread popular genres, art, flora, fauna, landscape, civil, military, and religious architecture, literature, economic activities, emigration, popular culture and religiosity, volcanology, gastronomy, whaling and cabotage, the plastic arts, transport, and music, among many others, all related to the Autonomous Region of the Azores.
“While it’s true that this is not an easy book to handle or consult, it’s also true that Ernesto Resendes, mentor of Nova Gráfica / Publiçor, has not neglected this fact, not wanting to inhibit readers from consulting it. In this way, “the ingenuity of those who designed it means that the size of the spine is no obstacle to accessing all the content”, as can be read in the book’s synopsis, written by José Alfredo Ferreira Almeida and Aníbal C. Pires,” said the publisher Letras Lavadas, part of the Nova Gráfica Group, in a statement.

Ernesto Resendes, José Manuel Bolieiro, Mário Fortuna e Maria José Lemos. (© Paulo R. Cabral)

The book will be kept at the José Ernesto Resendes Fund, at the Natália Correia Study Center in Ponta Delgada, but will also tour the Azorean islands in a traveling exhibition.
The book was presented by Mário Fortuna, President of the Ponta Delgada Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a member of the Azores Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Maria José Lemos, Chair of the Board of Directors at Teatro Micaelense, also spoke. The launch ceremony was closed by José Manuel Bolieiro, President of the Regional Government of the Azores. There was also a performance by Ana Paula Andrade, on the piano, and Rafael Carvalho, on the viola da Terra.

“Basically, this book was intended to show what the Azores have to offer the world, proving once again all that Azoreans are capable of doing and making dynamic,” the publisher said.

Musical Moment (© Paulo R. Cabral)

Some works published in collaboration with Bruma Publications at PBBI-Fresno State were also part of this Historic Book. PBBI-Fresno State would like to congratulate the resendes family and thank them for all they do for publishing in the Azores and the Diaspora.