La Sainte Vierge au Liban

First edition (the work was reissued several times up to 1954), illustrated with a double map as frontispiece and numerous black-and-white in-text illustrations (cf. Hage Chahine 1925).

Contemporary binding in black half shagreen with corners, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt floral motifs, gilt fillet framing on marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, all edges gilt, original illustrated wrappers preserved in color.

The title is somewhat misleading: the book is not a history of the cult of the Virgin Mary in Lebanon, but rather a richly illustrated travelogue across the country from one sanctuary to the next, featuring nearly 660 photographic reproductions.

A handsome copy in an appealing period binding.