The recent global economic downturn has done nothing to hurt the market for high-quality photo books, according to the Guardian.

Despite worldwide belt-tightening, luxury publisher Taschen recently releasedMoonFire: The Epic Journey of Apollo 11 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the first lunar mission. Limited to 1,969 copies, the large-scale book features prints from NASA and LIFE archives, and each is signed by the author, Norman Mailer. While the standard version will retail at roughly $1,600, 12 deluxe editions including an actual lunar meteorite is tipped to fetch six-figures.

While photography books are by definition more expensive to produce and harder to sell, Taschen continues to see increasing value in the format.

“Such a range of people buy these limited editions,” publisher Benedikt Taschen told the Guardian. “Art collectors, celebrities, politicians and sportsmen – but there are also the book obsessives who just have a love for books. Sometimes it’ll be someone who doesn’t have a lot of money, but feels so strongly about the subject that they will buy it as a one-off treasure.”

Enthusiasts see books as an investment, a safe place to put their money. In the case of Helmut Newton’s Sumo, which at 30kg was the largest book published in the 20th century, it increased in value 10 times its initial $14,650 cover price. Regardless of the reason, photography books continue to sell in increasing numbers – undoubtedly a relief to local photographers feeling the pinch.

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