WHEN people think of packing a good book for the summer holidays, they usually have in mind one that can easily fit into a suitcase.

But despite its size, Diana Bell’s giant book, standing at 2.2 metres high, is off on its own travels.

Three years after the art installation was made, The Big Book has been written in by 5,500 people in 84 different languages.

On Monday it headed off to the Edinburgh Festival, and soon it will be winging its way to Russia.

Constructed by the artist Ms Bell and two assistants at Magdalen Road Studios, Oxford, over a period of three months in 2010, The Big Book is metal-framed, covered in wood, hand carved, bound in faux leather and simply titled Imagine.

People are invited to walk inside it, let their mind wander and write anything they wish on its 37 canvas pages.

Ms Bell, from Boars Hill, said: “Having unveiled The Big Book at the Bodleian Library in 2010, my plan was to show it and move on to my next piece of work.

“But it has been so well received that I started to accept invitations to travel with it. After the British Library in March 2011, I visited Oxford’s twin town Bonn in June 2011, followed by Berlin, then Grenoble in France in April this year and Leiden in the Netherlands in May. It is my longest-running project.”

Funding trips to twin cities was a joint effort between the twinning associations.

The artist said: “The Big Book is completely non-profit-making – it is by everybody and free for everybody. We created ‘Friends of The Big Book’ with small donations from several people to take it to Grenoble. I have also had sponsorship including Oxford University Press and the author Philip Pullman.”

To reduce transportation costs, Ms Bell hired a lorry and started driving it to places herself.

“It’s been quite an adventure,” she said.

After her stint at Edinburgh Fringe she will be taking The Big Book, which began as an idea for a French art festival, on perhaps its most exciting adventure yet.

She said: “I’m very excited about taking it to our Russian twin town of Perm from September 17-22.

“Sadly, driving to Perm is not realistic but we have come up with a great way of taking The Big Book anyway. It has been put on to a CD which is going to be projected on to a vast wall in the centre of the city. The cover will appear to open and close and within will be mounted pages on which people can write.”