Kaph was founded in Beirut in 2015 to publish well-made art books about artists from the Middle East. The name comes from the letter kaph found in Phoenician, Aramaic and other Semitic alphabets, which reads as "palm of the hand" in modern Arabic, and the house uses it as an image of an open hand. Its catalogue of around 100 titles covers photography, fine art, design and architecture, with each book produced as a collaboration with artists, institutions or curators. Titles include On Photography in Lebanon (2018), a 384-page survey of Lebanese photography edited with the Arab Image Foundation's Clémence Cottard Hachem, a monograph on Fouad Elkoury's Cinema Cairo Palace, and catalogues for regional biennales. It now has its head office in Dubai, with presence in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.
Kaph Books at a glance
- Founded in Beirut in 2015
- Catalogue of around 100 art book titles
- Published On Photography in Lebanon (2018), 384 pages
- Name comes from the Semitic letter kaph, meaning palm of the hand