How to feel at your ease in the Beirut of social life and pleasure
(A little history…and lots of stories by Gérard Boulad)

Let the reader beware! If he is only politely interested in old stones, if he thinks, he has exhausted the pleasures of the sea and mountain, or if he merely wants to get the feel of Beirut – a capital which is practically unique in this way, the following lines are for him. They will enable him to make friends (or at least acquaintances) and keep them indefinitely - and profitably - particularly if he can display that same mental flexibility as his Lebanese opposite numbers, who often have warm hearts and open houses.

First, it is important to realize that Beirut society is essentially one which is ‘‘on display’’. Everybody goes out in Beirut (perhaps too much), sometimes to be seen, often because it is useful and people like it, even if they complain of it. In the midst of the season, one can be invited – often on the same evening – to a dinner, a play, a varnishing, a conference, or one of those cocktail parties which are much the same as any other in all the capitals where social life sometimes takes the place of individual life. But when you are in Beirut for a few days, that matters little.

Compulsory ‘‘communication’’

The Lebanese is curious by nature; he likes to know who you are, what you do, and what your hobbies are (and it may not even stop there!). Answer him pleasantly and do not get offended about something which, for him, is perfectly natural. Above all, do not be surprised if the conversation is begun in French, continues in Arabic finishes up in English. This is all part of a ritual known as ‘‘Franbanais’’ and is merely another proof of the mental flexibility of the person using it. He may seem to you to be light-headed and ironical, dispatching in a few irreverent words the most serious problems of the day… but this is only apparent and may be due to the fact that he has taken over-subconsciously from a company whose mental agility began at Smyrna continued in Alexandria. Don’t forget, this is the Mediterranean!

Life in the sun helps communication. In the precious light of Lebanon everyone bares his soul and talks unceasingly, from the housewife who receives you at her (well-filled) table to the taxi-driver who ‘‘makes conversation’’ to kill the time between two traffic jams. It is not here that Bergman problems of Communication (with a capital C) arise. Show that you are capable of exchanging ideas… in any language; you will always be understood. You will have plenty of time to retire to your ivory castle once you are back at home. Here, no body is anonymous. So fall in with the mood of the company.
If you think you need an Arabic phrase book, you will quite easily find one in any good bookshop. At the same time you can ask for any other information you like. People will be pleased to help you, or even go with you (this may be necessary if you want to know the whereabouts of a road, the names of which are not well known, while numbers are practically non-existent). We mention this just in case the receptionist at your hotel hasn’t already helped you, which would be astonishing.

A few useful tips

But it would take too long to go into details about hotels, particularly as a good number of them are of international class. In the neighborhood of the main ones you will find money changers ready to change any currency in the world. If you like little bars or English-type pubs, you will find these too near your hotel (or even in it) or Hamra street and the roads nearby. If you want to buy the products of Lebanese craftsmen, which make excellent presents, go either to the local crafts shop, below Parliament House (annex in the Bristol Hotel) or to individual craftsmen on the sea front near the Hotel St. Georges (very fine terrace) or to Artisan House, the magnificent Arches of which rise opposite the Hotel Vendome. There are all kinds of antique shop all the way along the Avenue des Français and the Souk Tawilé, near Bab Edriss. You will also find excellent carpet shops, but if you want an expert’s advice, do not hesitate to consult Mr. Malbandian in the rue Clemenceau. It should be pointed out that all antique dealers are affiliated to a trade association which recommends them to give you a certificate of authenticity in appropriate cases.

If you need important archaeological information, it will perhaps be as well to consult the Emir Maurice Chéhab, who has supreme control over the Antiquities Department and archaeological excavations in Lebanon. So far as the Museum proper is concerned, you may need to turn for advice to Mr. Harès Boustany, its highly competent director. But if you are interested in ancient icons, go and see Mlle Sylvia Ajemian at the Sursock Museum – a charming lady and an authority in this field.
Should you be intrigued by the sidelights of Phoenician history and the surrounding epochs, go and have lunch at the Myrtom House restaurant. There is every chance you might meet Mr. Georges Borgi, who knows our past like the palm of his hand. But he may just as easily tell you the latest story.
You are unsure about a detail of Lebanese architecture? Try your luck with architects Liger-Belair, Friedrich Ragette or Haroutioune Kalayan. The extent of your interest – or competence in the matter – may open many doors.

Perhaps you are fond or art of literature. Make your way with out hesitation to Dar el-Fan, and there ask to see one of the three ladies who take turns to preside over this Centre - Mme. Rubeiz, Mme Toutounji or Mme Harfouche. One of them will be pleased to talk to you about Lebanese painters and sculptors or the chief authors and poets; you will be told how to meet them and obtain copies of their works.

Between tourism and the press

You are a V.I.P. or someone who counts for something in some field - art, literature, the theatre, science, economics, medicine, or what have you? If you want that fact to be known, get in touch with Mme Viviane Haddad, who writes the incomparably brilliant gossip column of ‘‘L’Orient du jour’’. You might even aspire to an interview, expertly conducted by Mlle Marie-Thérèse Arbid, who knows every body who is anybody in Beirut.

But perhaps you are a young tourist who just wants to see the world on a limited budget. Then you should go to the young people’s reception office of the C.N.T. (Conseil National du Tourisme) which runs a youth hostel; the hostesses – with Mlle Nayla Kassis in the lead – will tell you about all sorts of tours and generally ‘‘show you the ropes’’ in a very pleasant way.

Time for a drink! You will find a ready welcome in any of a number of bars, pubs and snack-bars. However, if you want to discover a few jealously guarded political secrets, try your luck at the bar of the Hotel Saint Georges. You won’t find the notorious Philby there any more, but if you know your way about, ask the barman to introduce you Jim Hoagland of the Washington Post, Juan de Onis of the New York Times or even John Cooley of the Christian Science Monitor. The news gods may be on your side. However, if you are more interested in the French Press, you will have to be rather luckier to find Eric Rouleau of Le Monde, who sometimes holds court at the bar of the Excelsior on his way between two Arab capitals.

If you like the theatre, there are plenty of plays to see, but most of them are in Arabic. You must therefore have the language at your finger-tips to appreciate to the full the comedy of Chouchou, the spirited performances of Nabih Aboul Hosn, the voice of Nidal Achkar, the mysticism of Mounir Abu Debs, the conviction of Antoine Kerbage, the subtlety of Raymond Gebara, the stage sense of the two Multakas… and the theatrical value of so many accomplished actors. They are in the vanguard of the best that is being done in this field on this side of the Mediterranean.
The majority of these names will soon become familiar to you if you frequent to the Hamra cafés, which are also the places where most of the journalists of the Arabic and European Press and the mass-media people are to be found. In particular, hang around the ‘‘Horseshoe’’ and the ‘‘Express’’ these are the local ‘‘Flore’’ and ‘‘Deux Magots’’… and the service is excellent.

Think of your stomach!

But by now you are feeling puckish, and the multiple odors of Lebanese cooking are assailing your nostrils. You are quite right to surrender, for this is a cuisine rightly renowned throughout the world! But there is a very wide choice among the gastronomic sanctuaries where our culinary priests officiate before their ovens. To name the chief ones, there is Ajami (Avenue des Français at the end of the Tawilé street-market) the most famous and oldest of the traditional restaurants, which is open day and night and is rendez-vous for politicians and big businessmen. Nearer to the sea and built on piles there is Bahri, with is succulent ‘‘mezzés’’. If you happen to be in the Hamra, go up to Barmaki opposite the Tourist Ministry or to chez Marrouche opposite the American University. But don’t forget the Yldizlar in the Raouché district by the seashore or the famous Pigeon Grotto restaurant, your memory of which will be all the more vivid on account of its magnificent situation – built into the rocks and practically on the water. But these are not the only ones, and the entire coast is covered with these Oriental restaurants with their wonderful little dishes. Discover them for yourself, if you have the time and the inclination. Special mention should, however, be made of the Grenier des Artistes, which is in an old house surrounded by garden in the rue de Phénicie. Here, the atmosphere is particularly pleasant, as it is in all the places run by that colorful personality known as Prosper Gay-Para, the grand master of such famous spots as ‘‘Les Caves du Roy’’, ‘‘La Saucisse Joyeuse’’, the ‘‘Sweet Sixteen’’ and numbers of hotels. A name to remember if you want to get to know the pleasures of Beirut.

All along the Beirut coast there are also excellent restaurants where fish, frogs and sea food are served -‘‘Sultan Brahim’’, ‘‘Le Pacha ’’, ‘‘Moby Dick’’… there are too many to name them all. I shall say nothing of the ‘‘European-style’’ restaurants (which are equally numerous), such as Lucullus, Temporel, Jean-Pierre, le Péché de Vigne, le Relais de Normandie, Quo Vadis, etc…and those of the large hotels, ‘‘L’Age d’Or’’ at the Phoenicia, ‘‘La Reserve’’ at the Vendôme (with its elegant, refined English-style bar), ‘‘le Cap’’ at the Coral Beach, and those of the Saint-Georges and the Bristol. But let us stop there, or I might make you think that Beirut dose nothing else but eat (and eat well).

Night – and dawn – pleasures

Night falls, and other pleasures a wait you. If you want to be entertained by chansonniers, go and see friend Tores Sirnossian, who holds sway at his Epi-Club in the rue de Phénicie. Or chuckle at the repertoire the ‘‘Six Gales’’ (particularly in Arabic) with the priceless Alec Khalaf. Unless you prefer to go as far as the Lebanese Casino at Mammeltein, where you have a choice of entertainment - Chansonniers with the troupe of the Theatre de Dix Heures, all of whom are excellent (a good half of the show is in French) in the so-called Baccarat room, a girl-show with extraordinary numbers in the Salle des Ambassadeurs on the first floor, and for those who like gambling everything which has ever been invented in this field, from one-armed bandits to roulette, in the large gaming room on the ground floor. It’s enough to make you lose your head... and your shirt!

On the way back, stop for a moment at the ice-cream stalls in the adorable little port of Jounieh or further on at Kozaily’s by the roadside not far from Antelias. A delicious sundae awaits you. With what fruit? The whole lot, of course, even is including mangoes and pineapples!

And so back to Beirut. Perhaps it’s not too late for one last fling; so if you like real belly dancing in the most traditional of surroundings, get a few strong-arm men around you and go to the Parisiana cabaret in the place des Martyrs. You will enjoy the most colorful show you have ever seen (both on the stage and off it) in an indescribable atmosphere, interspersed with oriental chants which are taken up by the audience.

However, if that is not the sort of thing you enjoy, go down the rue de Phénicie. After the ‘‘Crazy Horse Saloon’’, where you will be welcomed by Karim Abujaudjé in surroundings where the strip-tease is erotic, but elegant, go on to the ‘‘Whisky à Gogo’’ and listen nostalgically to the airs sung by the illustrious Leon who has me all the way from his native Poland to charm your nights in Beirut.

At last, as you leave one of these haunts where time stands still in the grey light of the dawn coming up behind the wonderful mountains, walk a little way along the Corniche. There, in that precious moment, you will taste by the sea shore one of the most subtle pleasures of Beirut (and one which will cost you nothing!), that of seeing the light of Lebanon spreading slowly over the country.
And that really is beyond compare.

Tripoli

Tripoli, with a population of 150.000, is the second largest city in Lebanon. Its name dates from the Greek epoch - Tripolis, the three towns, so named from three trading ports (Tyre, Sidon and Arwad) which still existed at that time. At present, it is really two towns – the city proper with is ancient and modern quarters, and the harbor - ‘‘Al Mina’’- three kilometers away, where there was apparently at one time a Phoenician town of which nothing now remains.

Modern Tripoli - ‘‘Trablous’’ in Arabic - with its wide avenues, and its own characteristic town-planning aspect, is built around a series of Arab or Frankish monuments which the visitor will have all the more pleasure in finding because he was practically deprived of them in Beirut – the Great Mosque, particularly the Mosque of Taymon, the enormous castle of Saint Gilles which is reminder of the count of Toulouse and Mélissande the ‘‘distant princess’’, its numerous ‘‘madrassas’’ ( Al Qartawiyat, ‘‘Al Burtisiyat’’, etc…) and its hammams, some of which still operate, its street markets and colorful caravanserais (‘‘Khan el-Khayyatine’’, ‘‘Khan el-Sabun’’, etc…), all these impressive remains help to make the capital of northern Lebanon a tourist attraction of the first importance. To these may by added the Tower of Lions, an example of the military architecture of the Mameluks, which rises at the edge of the water, in the second part of the town. Of a completely different, and almost futuristic character, there are the extraordinary buildings designed by the architect Oscar Niemayer for the Tripoli international Fair rising in the midst of the orange groves.

Above all, do not leave the town without tasting the Tripolitan pastries, the reputation of which has been long established, after the excellent meal you can have at the National Tourism Board restaurant situated inside the walls of the Castle of Saint Gilles. After which, having looked at Deir Balamend (with the Cistercian abbey of Belmont close by hidden in the hills) on the way back to Beirut, it will be as well to stop for a moment in the middle of Batrun, on the motorway, to drink one of those refreshing lemon, drinks which are essential after the ‘‘zunud el-sett’’ of Tripoli.

Jbeil-Byblos

An entire book could be written on the real or imagined history of the oldest city in the world, the one bearing the name of the Bible itself (Byblos = Biblic), which in turn is probably derived from a corruption of the word ‘‘papyrus’’. So many are the civilizations which have left traces in the place, which the archaeologists excavate with infinite patience!

The most obvious relic of the past in the imposing Frankish castle which dominates the bay and around which a song festival is organized every year. From the highest tower, the entire field of excavations can be seen and thus you can distinguish from afar (before examining them more closely) a number of temples of antiquity - the temple of the obelisks, that of Baalat-Gebal (Byblos cathedral), together with royal tombs and sarcophagi, dwellings other buildings from the Neolithic and later periods, and lastly the adorable little Roman theatre which rises abavetiny bay where the bathing is excellent.

But the little harbour itself is full of charm, with its peaceful creek where fishing smacks and pleasure yachts ride at anchor. You can get there after having walked round the old city with its classical-style paving, full of shops specializing in the sale to tourists of objects which lie together in their widows after having been separated for centuries. Thence, after saying a prayer for a few minutes in the very fine Romanesque church of Saint John nearby, the visitor will go and quench his thirst or take something more solid in Prosper Gay-Para’s ‘‘Saint Tropez’’ (one of time’s revenges) or at Pépé Abed’s ‘‘Amiral’’, where there is a fine collection of ‘‘Phoenician under-water relics’’.

On leaving the town do not fail to pay a visit to the waxworks near the town square; General de Gaulle and Gamal Abdel Nasser are writing for you, dressed in their Sunday best.

Tyre and Sidon (Sour and Saida)

If you are keen on archeology, Tyre (Sour in Arabic) is made for you! The modern part of the city is of no particular interest, unless you like wandering around the little harbour dreaming of the purple which was once exported in its triremes, before Alexander the Great followed by Saladin, laid sieges lasting several months to the proud city.

But the ‘‘old stones’’ here are incomparable. All situated inside the walls of the old city, which was an island before its became attached to the mainland, they bring back memories of King Hiram, a contemporary of David an Solomon and date back to the Byzantine epoch via the great epochs of Roma and Greece . in the large field stretching as far as the sea the visitor can admire the arena which could contain two thousand spectators, nine columns of granite which dominate a palaestra, very extensive baths with their aqueduct, the royal road crowned by a triumphal arch and a race course where thirty thousand people came to applaud the chariot races, the necropolis and its remarkable sarcophagi, and the cathedral, all that remains of which are the huge granite columns taken from the temple of Melkart-Herakles - a truly impressive spectacle consisting of an entire ancient city lying before your eyes!
Next to Tyre, Sidon (‘‘Saida’’ in Arabic) is a poor second. Apart from the temple of Echmun situated 4 kilometers from the town, the most interesting sights are the remains from the Frankish period - the ‘‘Sea Castle’’ which guards the entrance to the harbour from the end of the Jetty, the great Mosque – formerly the chapel of the Saint John Hospital – and above all the remarkable ‘‘Khan el Franje’’ situated right in among the present street markets, which were, in fact, built much later by the Emir Fakhreddine II for European visitors passing through.

However, Saida is a very lively town and very much bound up with development of the country. A visit to the souks (as the street markets are called) may well be fruitful. And after having watched the fishermen at their work, it will be particularly pleasant to have lunch at the National Tourism Board Rest House, a former Arabian palace reconstructed very tastefully, thus adding the comfort of the present to the charm of the past.

Baalbek

There is more than one Baalbek -first that of Baal, the sungod whose worship gave it later, in the time of the Greeks, the name of Helopolis and the present town, which is well worth visiting, with its souks, mausolea and vast cafés located by the waterside. This town, with its pure dry air, is ideal for a restful week-end the pleasant surroundings of the Palmyra hotel, the visitors’ book of which contains some very famous names.

The first Baablek can be explored in two ways in the daytime by means of the traditional archaeological tour which provides a complete, and overwhelming, view of this enormous architectural complex.
Or it can be done at night thanks to one of those international evenings of the Baablek Festival attended by thousands of Lebanese and foreigners, dazzled by the spectacle. The second method is more advisable if you happen to be in Lebanon at the height of summer and are not terribly enthusiastic about archaeology. While enjoying the aroma of delicious Bedouin coffee at the foot of the temple of Bacchus to the sound of the ‘‘derbaké’’, you can cast your eyes in a leisurely manner round the enormous columns of the peristyle, and having crossed the propylaea, admire the gigantic grace (to use a contradiction in terms) of this same temple of Bacchus which is the best preserved of all Roman remains of its kind. By the light of the projectors, the six columns of the sanctuary will appear to you to be both more familiar and more unreal. You will cross the two immense courtyards of the Temple of Jupiter in the cool of the evening, quenching your thirst as you go and enjoying the spectacle with your friends. You will still have to discover the extremely original sanctuary of Venus (which forms a separate temple), but this can only be done by daylight.

This city of light is particularly odd in that it only displays it full charms nightfall!

Anjar

There are certain features about the site of Anjar not found elsewhere in Lebanon. Firstly, it was practically unknown to archaeologists and historians scarcely twenty years ago. Secondly, it is the only relic from the past which instead of dating back to the dawn of time, or at least the beginnings of the present era, dates only from the Omayyad Caliphs (eighth century). Thirdly, no more modern town has been built on its site; there is merely a village- exclusively Armenian - next to it.

Fore these reasons alone it is worthy of a visit. But the fact is that these remains and ruins of a fortified town which was also a princely resting place on the caravan routes arriving from East and West, are of incomparable grace and beauty, with their fine marble columns taken from Byzantine buildings.
The proportions of the Great Palace are admirable, as are those of the nearby mosque. The site, which is a perfect quadrilateral cut into four by two central alleys the intersection of which is at the exact geometrical centre, also includes a small palace and a hammam, as well as a group of houses and small shops which bear witness to the former commercial importance of the town.

A festival appropriate to the site was inaugurated recently, and the old shops themselves were renovated for the occasion and used for an exhibition of locale crafts and folklore: an excellent scheme which may impart a fresh impulse to the economy of the Bekaa and attract many visitors charmed with the beauty of ruins. Not to speak of the purely culinary interest, since at a stone’s throw from the ruins the ministry of Agriculture has thousands of trout which only await the gourmet’s pleasure.

The Bekaa

Apart from the two important sites of Baalbek and Anjar, the vast plain of the Bekaa which runs from North to South through the middle of Lebanon, has no particular archaeological interest. But in addition to the variety and wealth of its crops, which make it the veritable granary of the country, it offers a wide selection of picturesque, folkloric, and gastronomic… outings for the tourist.

Coming from Beirut, you enter it either through Shtaura or through Zahlé (capital of the ‘‘caza’’). You can also drop down into it from the mountains further North and reach Baalbek direct by the rather rough Faraya road. If you decide on the Shtaura route, gastronomy will be the order of the day (although Zahlé has a number of cafés which serve the succulent ‘‘mezzés’’). The hotels of shtaura are famous, as also are its ‘‘labné’’, its frogs’ legs, and above all its wines which come from Ksara (a former Jesuit estate), from the Ourelles and from the highly reputed slopes of Kefraya. Further North, Beyond Zahlé, it is as well to pay a visit to Niha, where there is remarkable Roman temple (not far from Baalbek). On the way back through Rayak, have a look at what was once the great military air base of the French Forces in the Levant.

Starting off again from Shtaura in the direction of Anjar, fork off to the right before you get there and go first to Rachaya, a centre of important political events, and then to the fortified palace of the Chehab emirs. This region is dominated by the summit of Mount Hermon (Jabal el-Cheikh), the frontier between Lebanon and Syria. Thence, after having visited the weekly (Tuesday) market of Souk el-khan, which is highly picturesque, you arrive at Marjayun and the remarkable museum house of Ebl Saqi – the archetype of Lebanese rural dwelling.

From Marjayun, return to Karaun and its rather curious artificial lake, formed by a dam on the Litany. Then proceed to Mashghara and, unless you want to cut through the mountains in the direction of Jezzin (a highly picturesque road), return to Shtaura via Ammik, thus completing the circuit.
This almost comprehensive tour of the Bekaa (not including Hermel, which is right up in the North and contains the sources of the Orontes) reveals a different aspect of Lebanon, without any great differences in level, although perhaps more original owing to that very feature.

The mountains of Lebanon

Everybody knows about the traveler who thought all the women of a country were blonde because he saw one woman with golden hair before he left. It is easy for any one who confines his Lebanon visit to the streets of Beirut to commit the same sort of error. The real Lebanon is the mountain , and practically every Lebanese has his little piece of inviolable ground there, to which he retires in certain circumstances, if only to forget the town.

And the mountain can be either sublime and grandiose or tender and intimate. From the eternal snows of the Kornet es-Sauda (3083 meters) to the shaded undergrowth of Jisr el-Kadi (the region of potters), it has so many quite different aspects that no one spot can hope to represent the whole.

Above Tripoli, there is the Akkar plateau, a beautifully austere region with an ancient fortress. From the Cedars - which are always imposing although there are so few of them - you look out over the villages of Ehden and Becharre and the valley of the Kadisha. The mountainous subdivisions of the Kesruan and the Metn are supplemented and connected up by their summer resorts with their widely varying charms, each of which has its enthusiastic habitués – Mayruba, Reyfun, Faytrun and Ajaltun for some and Dhur Shueir, Bickfaya, Brummana and Beit-Mery for others. Opposite them, the Chuf is no poor relation with its Sofar, Bhamdun and Aley - or further South, Deir el-Kamar, Beit-Eddine and Jezzin.

But whether the holiday-makers like it or not, they have not chosen the best season! If you want to discover the Lebanese mountainside in all its beauty, you should roam around it in the spring, and above all in the autumn. At that time, earth and sky, trees and bushes, fruit and flowers take on inexpressible colors; the very mountain dresses up at twilight in mauves and pinks which no artist could find on his palette. Even the animals seem to have put on warmer, more seductive coats.
This is the hour when a great peace descends upon the earth, the hour when the silence can be heard and Lebanon rediscovers for its own use and that of its people the word “harmony”.

Winter and summer sports

Is there really a Lebanon for sportsmen, or is it not perhaps a matter of showing off clothing and technical equipment? However that may be, winter and summer sports resorts exist and are well attended. So if you are keen on swimming or sailing, it is up to you to choose the place that suits you best.

There are a large number of skiing resorts, most of them fitted out with chair lifts, ski tows, shop for hiring equipment and… little bars for relaxing after the exercise - the Cedars, Faraya, Lakluk, Qanat Bakish, Zaarur, etc… you won’t practice what is known in Europe as “ski de fond”, but what dose that matter? The main thing is to enjoy the pleasure of the rapid descent in the blinding light of the sun and to the applause of the spectators. And don’t forget, it takes only an hour or an hour and half (rather more fore the cedars) to get to any skiing resort from Beirut. And that’s something.

At certain times of the year, if you are sufficiently keen, you can even enjoy the luxury of running down from Faraya by car to the nautical sports complex of Kaslik or Saint George’s Bay, getting undressed and hanging on to the towing rope of an outboard motor which will pull you (wearing water skis now) for a tour of the Bay of Junieh or of the beaches of Beirut. Lebanon is one of the few countries capable of providing such versatility.

There are other nautical sports besides. Motor canoes and outboard racing boats can be hired in a number of seaside resorts and yacht clubs. With good introductions and good friends (easy to make in Lebanon) you might even one day find yourself in Cyprus without knowing how! But what is the good of sport without the unforeseeable?

Decree N. 2385 of 17/1/1924 as amended by law N. 76 of 3/4/1999 ( articles 2, 5, 15, 49 and 85 ) lays down as follows: The author of a literary or artistic work, by the very fact of authorship, has absolute right of ownership over the work, without obligation of recourse to formal procedures . The author will himself enjoy the benefit of exploitation of his work, and he possesses exclusive rights of publication and of the reproduction under any form whatsoever. Whether the work in question comes under the public domain or not those persons will be liable to imprisonment for a period of one to three years and to fine of between five and fifty million Lebanese pounds, or to either one of these penalties, who 1-will have appended or caused to be appended a usurped name on a literary or artistic work; 2-will have fraudulently imitated the signature or trademark adopted by an author, with a view to deceiving the buyer; 3-will have counterfeited a literary or artistic work; 4-or will have knowingly sold, received, or put on sale or into circulation a work which is counterfeit or signed with a forged signature. The punishment will be increased in the event of repetition.