An Arab perspective on the 1900 Paris World Expo

Zak, Ahmad. Al-dunya fi Baris [The World in Paris].

€ 2,500.00

First edition of this scarce Arabic publication on the 1900 Paris World Exposition, as it was first published in the magazine Tabib al-a'ila. Part of a series of Paris Expositions which stretched over ten years, the 1900 Expo was perhaps the greatest, celebrating the centenary and driving forward innovation for the new century. Exhibited was everything from a complete Swiss village to an electric-powered car and a Ferris wheel; the Olympic Games were played nearby that same summer.

At the Expo representing the Arabic-speaking world were Morocco, Egypt under the flag of the Turkish Pavilion, and Tunisian and Algeria as French colonies; Tunisia's pavilion featured a recreation of the Sidi Mahrez Mosque in Tunis. This work is illustrated with numerous photographic plates and in-text illustrations of the various pavilions, with the photographs focusing on scenes of the scale of the Expo: crowds and booths around the base of the Eiffel Tower, the Avenue of Nations, and the view across the Seine. Altogether, a fantastic overview of one of the biggest international events of its era from an Arab perspective.

Scarce, with only one copy listed on OCLC and housed at the Bibliothèque National de France.