Selim Shibli Haddad (1864–after 1915) was a Syrian-born artist and inventor who played a pioneering role in the development of the Arabic typewriter. The development of Arabic typewriting has a fascinating history: one of the early accounts of its invention places it in Beirut in the 1890s, involving this portrait the painter himself.
The photograph documents the introduction or use of the Arabic typewriter.

Estimated period: 1920s–1940s

The photograph shows:

• Three men, apparently in a formal or professional setting.

• One man wearing a fez and traditional clothing of that period.

• Another in a Western-style suit.

• A third man working at an Arabic-language typewriter.

• An elaborate patterned textile behind them.

• Size: W 77 x H 67cm

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