Beirut 1840-1918, A Visual & Descriptive Portrait.

This Kutub book in 2 volumes is a history of the photography of Beirut from the earliest known photographers in the 1840s until the end of the First World War.

The first part is divided into six chapters: 1- Early Photographers. 2- The Second Decade: the 1850s. 3- The Golden Age of the 1860s. 4- The Dawn of Syrian Photography. 5- Resident Foreign and Local Photographers. 6- Professional and Amateur Photographers from 1880 to 1918.

The second part is historical, consisting of eleven chapters that describe numerous major political and social events such as sectarian conflicts, changes in political thought, bombardments of the city, Turkish oppression as well as economic developments, pilgrims, social life, etc. and a detailed topographical description of the harbor and its enlargement, the Old Town, newly built districts outside the old walls, leisure facilities, urban developments including a new water supply system, railway line to Damascus, the historic looting of antiquities, the quarantine system and many other aspects.


Volume I: Text & Illustrations: 374 pp. + [1], frontispiece plan, vignette on title page, 317 b/w photographs, maps, figures, 1 lage folding watercolour.

Volume II: 271 pp. 301 b/w photographs including 5 folding panorama + one double page watercolour, vignette on title page, biblio/. index, set fitted in a paper slip case in mint condition, new.

Date of Release: November 2022.