"Near East" 1943 BEATON, Cecil (SIGNED)
$750
BEATON, Cecil
Signed on title page
[150] pp.
B.T. Batsford Ltd.
1943
Second Printing
8 3/4" x 6"
VG
In March 1942 Beaton was sent by the Ministry of Information to the Middle East for a three-month assignment. His task was to take photographs of the war efforts of the Allied Forces and to send home written reports that could be used for propaganda purposes. After a long journey across Africa, with multiple stops, Beaton landed in Cairo. He spent several weeks in Egypt, staying out in the desert and visiting army, air force and naval bases. He also completed a whistle-stop tour of Teheran, Baghdad, Jerusalem, Amman and Damascus. In Near East, Beaton's text and photographs combine to create a mix of propaganda, travelogue and memoir, the whole giving 'a unique pictorial impression of the Near East at war, against a background of desert sand and the relics of ancient civilisations.'