دليل المعرض العربى الاول: لسنة ١٣٥٢, guide to the first Arab Exhibition in Jerusalem, an all-Arab trade fair. Jerusalem, 1933. Arabic.
An official guide issued by the Arab Exhibition Company, with a list of participants, sketches and pictures of the showrooms, an advertisements section and an introduction to the history of the Arab world. Illustrated cover (signed in the plate: "M.J. Badran").
The First Arab Exhibition opened in July 1933 at the Palace Hotel in Jerusalem (now the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Agron Street). The initiative developed on the background of the increasing tension between the Palestinian Arabs and the Mandate Government, France's and Britain's colonial activity in the Middle East and the success of the Levant Fair exhibitions in Tel-Aviv. The intent was to showcase the agricultural, industrial and cultural advancements taking place in the Arab World in an exhibition just as grand as the Levant Fair exhibitions, and strengthen the economic and cultural ties between Arab countries.
The exhibition took place in the Palace luxury hotel, one of the most beautiful buildings in Jerusalem. Invitations and advertisements were published throughout the Arab World and on the opening night, fireworks lit up the skies of Jerusalem. The halls of the hotel displayed a variety of agricultural and industrial developments, handicrafts and works of art from Palestine and from all over the Arab World – Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. The exhibition also featured works by Palestinian painter Zulfa al- Sa'di; the artist and art scholar Kamal Boullata refers to al-Sa'di's exhibit at the Arab Exhibition as the "first ever solo exhibition by a Palestinian painter".
The exhibition was widely reported in the Arab Press, attracted many visitors and was considered a success. The Hebrew press barely mentioned the exhibition and the few papers that did reported it noted that the entrance of Jewish journalists was forbidden. In an extraordinary review that was published in the "Doar Hayom" newspaper, Yehuda Karniel mocked the exhibition and its participants: "A 'treasurer' sat inside the palace and handed over the tickets through the grate, sticking out his hand to receive the cash and hand out the tickets, like a monkey being given food […] I saw there products of… Syria, Baghdad and Egypt but of Palestine … almost nothing!" (in the article, Karniel claimed that he infiltrated the hall in disguise).
44 ff., 22 cm. Good condition. Creases and minor blemishes. Tears and stains to gutters of first and last leaves. Stains and minor wear to cover.
Literature:
1. Self-Portrait of a Nation, The Arab Exhibition in Mandate Jerusalem, 1931-34, by Nadi Abusaada. In Jerusalem Quarterly, issue 77, Jerusalem: The Institute for Palestinian Studies, 2019, pp. 122-135.
2. The Storyteller of Jerusalem: The Life and Times of Wasif Jawhariyyeh, 1904-1948, editors: Salim Tamari, Issam Nassar (Northampton, USA, 2014), chapter: The First Arab Exhibition.