4to. 286 pp., Arabic & English text, 343 b/w photographs including some colour post cards, publisher’s original wrapper, biblio, index, Kutub Publishing, Beirut, 2013.

Synopsis

The work consists of three parts as follows: I. Shweir, a background. II. Photographers in Shweir. III. Photographic record. The material is based on three sources: first one is a photographic collection taken by two Shweiri photographers: Nasib Nasr Khonaysir and Wadi’ Sabi’ Muja’is; second source is the postcards taken by Lebanese and foreign photographers; and the third source consists of: cartes-de-visite and cabinet portraits taken in Shweir or of migratory Shweiris. Two chapters supplement the visual material: one discusses the historical growth of the town, its social and urban life and economic, cultural and educational background, the second chapter covers what is known of the Shweiri photographers and the techniques they used in order to understand the photographs in their historical context.