Photo by: Conrad Lau

On the road that winds the wooded mountain, the air is more bracing and the noise of the city fades. The first houses of Daraoun-Harissa appear behind the multicolored stands of candy merchants. “The village of publishers” wakes up. In a few minutes, the 25 workshops in the alleys of the village will gently purr on the rhythm of the pressing, cutting, pricking, folding, and covering machines. The first printing machine was founded by the Saint-Paul Catholic Order in 1909. Since then, the village has become the master of the bookmaking art.
« throughout the years, our young people have learned to control all the bookmaking procedure”, says the mayor Antoine Chemaly, “From a generation to another, they have created new firms. We certainly own the biggest density of publishers in Lebanon. Each publisher has chosen his specialization in a particular domain according to his own taste, be it in graphics, press, or lamination.”

In the ground floor of a house, Joseph Bassil has played with painting since his sweet and tender childhood. A little bit of red, blue, yellow, and black. He delicately turns the control buttons of the ink in order to find the ideal color mixture. 4000 advertising brochures go out from his printer per hour. “But it is not an easy job,” admits this hard-working man who has been trained since the age of 10, “it is extremely exhausting.”

In the little structures, the employees manipulate traditional machines. Some of these machines look like they directly went out of a fifties movie’s décor with their barbarous names. At the Chemaly’s house, a guillotine that cuts papers stands near the entrance way. A little bit further, a sewing machine, a folder. Leaning on their tools, automaton men constantly make the same gestures. “I’m in this job since 45 years”, says Hana Chemaly. “It’s a passion that saw the light in me when I was a little kid. I used to look at the books and ask myself how they were made. Of course, my job happens to be repetitive but I adore beautiful books.” He transmitted this virus to his sun Hani who is preparing himself to take his place.