Wed, June 30, 2021 / Published in Fundraising

TOVP Book of Devotion Production Update

The TOVP Book of Devotion is now officially going into production in preparation for offering to Srila Prabhupada. With over 9,000 names of TOVP donors, this will be the most magnificent, one-of-a-kind book presented to His Divine Grace in the history of ISKCON.

Since the deadline of Gaura Purnima, March 28, the TOVP Book Team of Rishab das and Mitravinda devi dasi, along with Madhusevita and Haladhara prabhus on the publishing side, have been busy going through several drafts making corrections and refining the presentation. The final draft was finally approved on the Disappearance Day of Shyamananda Prabhu and the book has now officially gone into production for printing.

But this is no ordinary book by any means. Here are some of the special features of this ornate, jewel-like publication, being produced by the makers of the largest Bhagavad Gita in the world at ISKCON Delhi:

15″ (38cm) x 20.5″ (52cm) in size
55 lbs./ 25 kg in weight
4.6″ (11.4cm) thick
500 gold-leafed pages
Silver/Gold bas-relief on the cover
Printed on handmade Free-life Merida paper
Special illuminated text
Printed in Milan, Italy

Madhusevita das, the Publisher and manager of the project describes the next phases of production:

Internal Work

a) Creation of digital “blueprints” of every page
b) Final approval of the pages by the TOVP Book Team
c) Separate printing of each and every single page (a work that few could do perfectly)
d) Gold-embossing of every page
e) Stitching of the book-block (all 500 pages)

Book Cover Work

a) Creation of the cover ‘case’ before adding the pages (leaves), bas-relief and spine plaques
b) Fixing of the bas-relief and the plaques on the cover and spine
c) Adding the book-block to the cover

The estimated production completion is by the end of August. We pray that everything goes smoothly. The photos below show Madhusevita and Haladhara prabhus with Mr. Loce, the printer, at his office while checking sample printings of the TOVP Book.