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First and sole edition of this visual celebration of almost a quarter century of transformative works on the Holy Mosque and Kaaba in Mecca. The photography is by the award-winning news cameraman, photojournalist, editor, and writer Mohamed Amin. Amin's book is scarce, with just five locations traced (Royal Institute of British Architects, University of Oxford, National Library of Malaysia, National Library, and National Gallery of Australia). The volume was produced for the Ministry of Finance and National Economy by Visnews, a London-based international news agency, in association with the Arabian Public Relations Agency in Riyadh. It was published in recognition of the completion of the extensive improvements undertaken under the ministry's supervision. The text contains a historical description of the Holy Kaaba, Masjid al-Haram (Holy Sanctuary), a summary of recent construction in the Saudi era, and architectural notes, with the rest of the volume dedicated to Amin's photographs, presenting detailed views of the diverse and extensive developments. Born in Kenya, Mohamed Amin (1943-1996) was the founder of sub-Saharan Africa's leading media agency, Camerapix. He was the first photographer to be given access to document the Hajj and among the first to photograph sections of the Holy Mosques of Mecca and Medina. Over three years during the 1970s, he travelled by camel, helicopter, car, and on foot to Medina, Arafat, and Mecca. The resulting film, Journey of a Lifetime, was dubbed into 27 languages and "stills from it adapted into a lavish book, Pilgrimage to Mecca. dedicated to 'my Muslim brothers throughout the world'. a deeply personal introduction both to the Hajj and the man behind the camera" (Werner). Amin was also the cameraman for Michael Buerk's 1984 BBC report on the Ethiopian famine, footage which inspired Live Aid. Charlotte Mitchell, "Mohamed Amin: The Kenyan who moved the world", Al Jazeera, 30 June 2018; Louis Werner, "Africa's Compassionate Eye", Aramco World, March/April 1997. Landscape folio (270 x 390 mm). Profusely illustrated in colour from photographs, geometrically decorated tissue-guards to portraits; text in Arabic and English. Original green leatherette, lettered in gilt on front over within a frame of eight-pointed stars, interlaced eight-pointed star and quatrefoil pattern on rear cover, light green endpapers, all edges gilt, green silk bookmarker. Housed, as issued, in matching plush-lined clamshell box with green silk ribbon lifting pull. Some leaves at beginning and end a little foxed and cockled, some darker pages with slight offsetting; box with superficial indentation at lid and a few small marks. A very good copy.
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