On show at the 'Salon d'Art Moderne' in Paris March 15, was the "Apocalypse" - the most unique and certainly the most expensive book in the world. Produced by that renowned painter Salvador Dali, this fabulous work of art, the diamond-studded bronze cover - created by Dali - weighs 200 pounds alone, has cost an estimated GBP72,500 in materials.

Famous artists who have contributed original paintings, reproduced within on parchment, are: Bernard Buffet, Salvador Dali, Leoner Fini, Foujita, Mathieu, Tremois and Zadkine.

The "Apocalypse of St. John" is prefaced by poems, remarks and meditations by famous French intellectuals attempting to translate some of the famous text into the idiom of this atom age.

Written on 200 separate sheets of parchment, the text is translated into 6 languages. The parchment was selected from no less than 300,000 sheeps hides. Every title, sub-title, and leading figure and letter of each page is in raised gilt. The format of the book is 75 x 64 centimetres.

29-year-old Micheline Nicolas spent some 2000 hours creating the exquisite calligraphy that appears throughout the book in 6 languages.

"L'Apocalypse" was created by Dali to emphasize the great tradition of book producing. It intends to use the word 'apocalyptic' in its true meaning, i.e. "passing into a limitless time". It is a reflection on a time which cannot die, but undertakes metamorphosis - it is a reflection of what could still be achieved before the era of microfilms".