World's most expensive book

THE WORLD’S most expensive book has gone on sale - for a cool $6,000,000.

Roger Shashoua, voted one of Europe’s top 500 entrepreneurs, has added over 600 flawless diamonds to the cover of his book - Dancing With The Bear. The ‘oligarch cover’ makes it the most expensive book in the world and has been aimed at the Russian "Roman Abramovich" billionaire market.

Mr Shashoua hopes the concept might be adopted by Russian ex-pats in London and British City workers with bonuses to spend. He said: “There is so much money floating around in Russia that it seemed entirely logical to produce a book designed for the Russian market. "I am just happy that conspicuous displays of consumption can now be associated with writing, rather than fashion accessories. I can only hope that oligarchs will read the book, rather than just keeping it locked away.”

Such expenditure on the part of Russia’s new rich is not unprecedented – during the Moscow Millionaire Fair in October 2006, the Russian elite were offered a dazzling array of items including a gold baby’s dummy and a bejewelled mobile phone with an asking price of £520,000.

According to Forbes Magazine report in 2006, 88,000 Russian millionaires have emerged in less than two decades. The oligarch cover version of Dancing With The Bear is a black version of the normal white book cover that is shortly to reach the shelves of UK bookshops. The diamonds on the oligarch cover contain a a total of 120 carats.