Digital BW, The Print

I'm going to print my own "coffee table" book and would
like some assistance wrt paper. I'm using an Epson 2100
+ epson UC. At the moment the research indicates that
A3 (or A3+) creased is the way to go, providing 4xA4
per sheet and allowing one full A3 for each sewn 
signature. 

Ignoring ink choices (for the moment!),
I'm having trouble with a choice of paper. Obviously
it has to be double sided. Semi-gloss is possible or
matte. Sources seem to indicate that since, mostly,
books are kept closed and only rarely (relatively)
opened, longevity is less of an issue than for
hung prints (is this true?). Tissue between each
page is possible but not preferred. Handling marks
are an issue since pages will be turned.

So it seems I need a A3 semi-gloss or matte, DS with
high dmax (coffee table++ quality). At least half of the
book will be B&W and the other half colour. It would
be nicest to use the same paper for both parts but I
could change papers at the different signatures so
as long as they're mostly the same (ie. not textured
matte B&W vs semigloss colour).

The other thing is that places like Red River won't
ship anything outside the US, so any company that
has that attitude can't be used :-( This includes
Inkjetart, inksupply and I'm asking mediastreet and 
awaiting feedback. I do know places here in Australia
that sell epson (doh), hahnemuhle, somerset 225g and
just found a bockingford DS (no other information on
weight etc).

Anyone who has done this sort of thing (ie. books)
who has thoughts on paper weight as well as a
particular brand/manufacturer, or anything else
relevant - please speak up :-)

Thanks
Robert
PS. for the doubters: yes, I know it will be expensive 
(and, except for the exact paper price, I *do* know 
almost how much). No, I'm not going to use mypublisher 
or ofoto or any other place.
PPS. I went back a while in the archives searching but
couldn't find anything relevant.