Confessions of a vintage magazine freak

Gotcha Achabaka right here, friends.

Now this pop culture and lifestyle publication was one of several from the Beirut-based Dar Assayad empire, whose launch interestingly coincided with Lebanon’s Independence Day on November 22, 1943, and would fold after a 75 year run. Back in the 50’s and up through the start of the civil war in 1975, Beirut flourished as the publishing hub of the Middle East, but sadly, many of the nation’s archival treasures were lost or destroyed during the civil war, nor are there any vaults crammed with surviving film and news footage or works in print, like you’d find at the BBC or any of the news networks here in the U.S. Hopefully that’s changing, thanks to the efforts of preservationists and artists like Alfred Tarazi.

First, though, let’s go time tripping back to 1610 for the first photo below. It’s one I took of the first-ever Lebanese printing press, responsible for churning out the very first publication in the Middle East: a book of psalms published in Syriac and Arabic. The printing press is housed in the Monastery of St. Anthony of Qozhaya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site nestled in the Qadisha Valley, and a place whose breathtaking and natural charms I think of often. Because of this, it doesn’t feel like much of a stretch to dive from the sacred into the sensuous here with my favorite cover girls. Thanks for dropping in, and please enjoy the view(s)!

Magazine covers courtesy of Braich Posters

Confessions of a vintage magazine freak

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