Gabriele Basilico - Beyrouth [+ original photo ] - 1994

Unique and absolutely unfindable elsewhere on the internet, this is the very first edition of the book Beirut by Gabriele Basilico, published in 1994 in Paris by Librairie – Galerie Chambre Claire (founded by Fadi Zahar), and exceptionally accompanied by an original photograph measuring 18 cm by 24 cm. The photograph is printed on glossy polyethylene paper and bears the author's embossed seal. This original photograph is identical to the cover photograph of the book in this original edition.

The book features 42 black-and-white photographs printed full-page outside the text, with miniature reproductions and street names as captions at the end of the book. This edition also includes a very important interview with Gabriele Basilico by Gabriel Bauret in French, English, and Italian, as well as two texts by Gabriele Basilico at the beginning and end of the book, always in the three languages. The cover is soft hardcover with flaps, illustrated on the cover.

The book, published in Paris by the Chambre Claire, was printed in Italy by the renowned Arti Grafiche Friulane of Udine, which also made it easier for Gabriele Basilico to oversee the printing.

From October to December 1991, two years after the end of a civil war in Lebanon, Gabriele Basilico participated in a photographic mission dedicated to the ravaged downtown Beirut. During this first trip to Beirut, Gabriele Basilico took 560 photographs with a 10 x 12 camera. This territory, a symbol of the country's golden age and diversity, was in fact the scene of fierce warfare for nearly fifteen years, from 1975 to 1990, with multiple bombings and close combat (from street to street, building to building) between various enemy militias. The photographs show buildings riddled with impacts but still standing, like skeletons, in a suspended time that is no longer that of war and not yet that of peace.

Book from my personal collection, in excellent condition (like new), kept with the utmost care. Shipping is very securely protected and international postal tracking is guaranteed. In case of multiple purchases, there is the possibility of combined shipping with reimbursement of any overpaid postal fees via Paypal.

Weight excluding packaging 0.650 kg