This book is a collection of two hundred paintings, designs and motifs created by the French artists for preserving the oriental cultural heritage in mid nineteenth century before the art of photography was born. These paintings are so detailed and delicate that they can hardly be distinguished from photographed pictures. Oriental art owes much to the endeavors of the artists who worked on the creation of the painting that appear in this book. The text and description in this book is in English, French, Arabic and Persian. The book is hardcover with dust jacket, printed on heavy glossy paper, 230 pages, 40 x 50 cm The first edition of this book was published in Paris in 1877 in 65x50 cm format was based on paintings from brilliant examples of the architecture and art of Islamic lands and was annotated by Mr.Prisse d'Avennes. The second edition was an undated reprinting of the original manuscript in Beirut with the same format. The present edition, that is the third impression of the book, has been prepared in the present format based on the original manuscript.