Wiltshire-based Cromwell has printed the Complete Miss Marple series, which contains Agatha Christie's entire famous detective series for the first time – 12 novels and 20 short stories.

The 4,032-page book measures more than a foot in width at 322mm and weighs in at 8.02kg. It is made up of 252 hand-sewn 16-page sections and the page edges are sprinkled with red dye.

In all, 43 murders are solved in the volume, there are 12 poisonings, two drownings, 21 romances and 143 cups of tea are consumed.

The record-breaking book is bound in red leather by Cedric & Chivers Period and printed on Arctic Paper's Munken Pure 130gsm paper.

Ivor Stone, binding manager at Cedric & Chivers, said: "Because of the size of the book, no machine could cope with it so it is all bound by hand.

"There was a problem just handling it, and the only machine we used was a guillotine to bind it. And even then we had to improvise so it would fit."

Only 500 copies of the limited edition volume have been produced, and they are set to retail at £1,000 each.