How would you like to wear about 40,000 words of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, along with a picture of the great man (and a chimp), also formed of his words? If so, you can get this nice tee-shirt from Litographs for only $34. Here’s the front:
and the back:
The process:
Every Litographs t-shirt is created entirely from the text of a classic book, and is hand-pressed to order in Cambridge, MA.
Our shirts are printed via all-over dye sublimation, which means that the design – the text from each book – covers every inch. Of all the printing methods we’ve tested, dye sublimation stands out for its resolution, comfort, and durability.
Because the collar and seams are thicker than the body of the shirt, some blurring of text in those areas is unavoidable. You may also notice a few small, white voids under the arms, which are not noticeable when the shirt is worn. These are standard features of dye sublimated t-shirts, and each item is unique.
Our shirts are made using white, Vapor brand T-Shirts produced specifically for dye sublimation. Vapor tees are made with high-quality, 100% spun polyester to deliver the look and feel of cotton while allowing for full-color, all-over printing. Dye sublimation printing produces vibrant, super-soft, permanent prints that are guaranteed to never shrink or fade.
The average Litographs t-shirt contains approximately 40,000 words (about the length of a short novel).
And an enlargement:
I actually own one of these shirts!
Does the fine print survive laundering?
Sort of. Which is to say that the words are still there but it looks kind of faded.
Never wash it! Wash yourself instead!
Cool
Totes amazeballs!
Spiffulent!
Wonder if they ship internationally?
Yes they do … might get one. Am in Shrewsbury in a few weeks so I will wear it in honour of the town’s greatest son …
Yes, but which addition? Do you want the original (no mention of ‘the creator,’ but no mention of ‘survival of the fittest’ either) or one of the later ones? 🙂
I’m just kidding around. Very impressive. For everyone’s information, MS Word tells me that the Project Gutenberg version of the 6th edition contains 211,199 words, but that includes the table of contents, Project Gutenberg’s own front material, the Index and Glossary of Terms. So this is probably between 1/4 and 1/5th of the total ‘real’ content.
Gutenberg also has the 1st edition text, which I read on my phone for the first time recently (very familiar with the 6th, which has been on and off the shelf for the last 35 years): I recommend the original, as it’s a far better read and probably considerably stronger as an argument. Also quite a lot shorter, though that’s no advantage in itself.
I bought one of these, and am very impressed with the quality. The text is readable, and the artwork sublime.
Litographs was launched on Kickstarter, and I found out about it after donating to Kelly Houle’s “Illuminated Origin of Species” project via Kickstarter in 2009. I hope Kelly is making some progress on the illustrated manuscript — if a coffee-table edition is ever published, I’ll order it immediately!
Me too re any coffee table edition.
Looks great! Possibly for ying and yang reasons, you can also buy a bible t-shirt along with Darwin.
I want one! 🙂
Own this shirt was one of the first ones to receive it since I backed it on kickstarter. Great shirt!
I am a wearer of sciencey and buggy t-shirts and also Hawaiian shirts — which I consider the greatest fashion statement. I would love this shirt, but my closet is so stuffed right now that I would have to ‘cull’ a shirt.
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
Just bought mine!
Great shirt!
I want one.
Again? 🙂 https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/now-thats-a-tee-shirt/
Definitely nice though, I got it myself when I first read it on this site back then.
I have that as a framed print in my home! Looks even better as a shirt though.
Wow -didn’t dyesub printing used to be expensive? (Think National Geographic quality prints.)
Reblogged this on Reasonable Rants and commented:
OK, I want a Darwin “Origin of Species” T-Shirt with the text in black type, please…!! This is pretty cool…