The only work of travel writing by Elias Canetti, The Voices of Marrakesh was first published in German in 1968. It is a record of a visit to Morocco by an author best known for his sociological text Crowds and Power, an ambitious study of the roots of Fascism. Canetti won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981.

Wiley began work by making small watercolors of incidents in The Voices of Marrakesh, followed by a large preliminary drawing for an etching. He added an underlying map of the walled city of Marrakesh, which is printed in an earthy red; drawn images are printed in black. The etching was partitioned into six pieces and bound into the book, each segment illustrating one of Canetti’s stories.

Karl Bissinger took these photographs in 1949 while on assignment in Morocco for Flair, a short-lived magazine known for its lavish production values. 29 photographs were selected for this book: 28 in black and white and a color frontispiece. The sequence follows the course of the photographer's journey and intersects with places mentioned in Canetti's account.

Production Details

• Edition of 50 numbered deluxe copies

• Large octavo, 11 by 8 inches, 136 pages

• Bound with a brown leather spine and printed paper sides, in slipcase

• Available only with the accompanying etching, “Canetti in Marrakesh” (see below)

• Arion Press publication #61, 2001
  

The Etching

William T. Wiley’s "Canetti in Marrakesh" is printed in two colors, black and red, on Rives Heavyweight paper. The size of the plate is 29.5 by 20.75 inches; the size of the paper is 38 by 27 inches. The intaglio plates were prepared and proofed by Timothy Berry of Teaberry Press in San Francisco and printed by Robert Townsend of R. E. Townsend Studio in Georgetown, Massachusetts.

The edition is limited to 50 prints for sale, numbered and signed by the artist, available only with a copy of the book.