The barn door-style cover opens to reveal two further perforated flaps attached to the head and tail, which also open out, providing the advertiser with seven separate content areas in total.

Virgin Holidays took the space to promote its special holiday offers involving two destinations in one trip.

“Our advertising team is always looking for media firsts,” explained Telegraph Media Group head of operations Stav Athanasiou. “Polestar came up with the creative together with Waddington & Ledger, and then adapted it to make it suitable for a stitched title.”

Stella has a print run of just under 500,000. Polestar produced the 56pp text section as usual at its gravure site in Sheffield, while Waddington & Ledger (W&L) printed the 150gsm cover at its site in Elland.

W&L is known for its expertise in producing creative print treatments for markets including direct mail, inserts, magazines and catalogues. “We have a unique ability to develop three-dimensional products in both paper and more rigid materials,” the firm said.

The Telegraph project involved a rigorous planning process. “We had to do extensive testing beforehand to make sure it would run perfectly on Polestar’s Ferags, and didn’t hinder production. We had to be very careful about the glue lines,” Athanasiou added.

“It’s something clever and different, and it shows off the creative strength of print. We’ve had great feedback.”