More than anything else, the Lebanese Foundation for the National Library’s exhibition in the Beirut Souks, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, is a celebration of ‘pioneers who loved knowledge and were keen to spread it’. In a country which claims to have published the world’s first newspaper, and for which political and social upheavals never seem far away, the collection of newspaper and journal front pages from the last hundred years (1858-1958) holds particularly weighty significance. The pages – fresh from forgotten archives, yellowed and torn – have been sensitively curated with full commentary in English, French and Arabic, which places the publications in their relevant contexts. Censorship, colonialism and the relationship of readers and advertisers to print media are all part of the fascinating tapestry, which heaves with passion; a 1921 publication ‘Al-Ma-rad’ bursts on to the scene with ‘a thundering cry for freedom’. But like Lebanon’s history textbooks, it would be nice to bring it all up to date; without the jolt and provocation of the present, the insights remain cosily cloaked in nostalgia.

Until July 21. Ajami Square, Beirut Souks, Downtown. Free entry.