Luxury coffee-table book publisher Assouline has released the latest in its Ultimate Collection, a 240-page handcrafted volume featuring Parisian soccer team Paris Saint-Germain, containing a curated collection of never-before-seen behind-the-scenes photographs of the soccer team. With a foreword by the late soccer great Pelé and text by the bestselling French novelist David Foenkinos, a loyal supporter of the club, the book introduces and unveils faces and bodies that evoke all sorts of emotions page after page.
“For six years, photographer Julien Scussel has had unprecedented access to the Parisian [soccer] team and its players,” said Assouline. “No photographer has ever got this close to a professional team.” The result is a behind-the-scenes discovery of a project that has forever changed the dimension of the emblematic Parisian Club.
Foenkinos adds, “At this level of fame, most of [the players’ lives] become public. But here, the project is unique because of its artistic purpose. Some shots offer a close-up look, just like a painting. We can see the incredible details from big pictures. We think of [center-back] Presnel Kimpembe’s face when he beckons to the supporters and shares his rage to win while we see his teammates celebrating the goal that was just scored behind him.”
Limited to 1,000 numbered copies, the book contains more than 150 illustrations, is sized 16 x 19 inches and handcrafted in a clamshell case. The book will retail for $1,200 from the publisher when it releases on January 30th.
For more from Assouline, check out ‘The Impossible Collection of Watches 2nd Edition’.