Between the lines the story of an unusual tome

The orders are included in the book with Lyu's caricature images. and all these images on the orders are made into flip books on the left side of the string binding.[Photo by Wei Xiaohao/ China Daily]

More material

In order to include more material, those Li believes are minor stories, they printed more private information on the left-hand pages that are closed at the front by the fold.

"We saved those stories for our friends and family as well as anyone else interested," Lyu says.

They used relatively thin paper so that the content on the left-hand pages appears on the front, like hazy memories.

The Leipzig judges said the printed left-hand pages "serve up the additional content like an unopened fruit. As if the growth of such books were without intention."

"The aim with the hazy effect is to attract readers, just as a beautiful woman in a flimsy gown is sexier than if she was naked," Lyu laughs.

"It's a very creative job," he says, and Li cuts in: "My dear comrade, don't always mention creativity. I don't like it.

"These days people always talk about creativity, exaggerating it and mystifying it. It's just a unique solution. Your situation is so different from all the others. You had so many things that you wanted to put into the book, and you have very little money, so I had to come up with a solution. That's all."

In early 2013 Li started working on the design, with Lyu's full backing. In three years, based on her understanding of beautiful books and the Lyu family, she tried more than 60 different formats.

"We know who we are. Lao Lyu (old Lyu) has simply run his book business with a sure hand from 9 am to 10 pm every day for two decades, taking a two-day break during the Spring Festival. And I just tried my best to design the book. We didn't expect to win the award. We just wanted to make a book that would be up to our standards."