A monster of a Moon-book could shortly be gracing your coffee-table, provided you have a hefty amount of money in your bank account.

Billing itself as “a unique tribute to the defining scientific mission of our time” – that being the 1969 Apollo Moon mission – the book combines text by Norman Mailer with glossy reproductions of NASA photographs and, for a select few, even a piece of the Moon.

The cost of Moonfire? A mere $1,000. That’s without the Moon piece.

If you want a bit of Moon rock with your book you will have to cough up a lot more. Creed Poulson, of publishers Taschen America, told the Times, “It will be thousands, hundreds of thousands, of dollars. Kind of like a diamond.”

In total 1969 copies of Moonfire will be published in two editions. The first 1957 will be costly and lavish but sans rock. For the remaining 12, Taschen says:

Each copy comes with a unique specimen of lunar rock, ranging in weight from a slice of the moon at 0.4 grams to 30.34 grams, one of the largest lunar meteorites ever found on Earth.

On the basis that you can’t afford this, here’s how to make your own.

First, pick yourself up a copy of Mailer’s original book, ‘Of A Fire On The Moon’ (cost: about $20). Download yourself a selection of Apollo 11 photos from NASA and have them nicely printed out (cost: free). Glue these together in a nice big box (cost: dependent on box). Add some Moon rock (cost: about $1,000 or $2,000 if you’re lucky).

Image: NASA