Comprising Karl Lagerfeld’s photographs of the Byzantine mosaics in the Basilica di San Vitale in Ravenna and conceived in connection with his acclaimed Paris-Byzance collection for Chanel in December 2010, Byzantine Fragments is an eloquent book object that imitates the delicate mosaics it depicts. Lagerfeld’s pictures are impressions, not documentations of the mosaics: each is printed at a different angle and with blurred edges like sepia images on vintage postcards. Byzantine Fragments is all restrained luxury: the photos are printed on ivory parchment, the title page is of indigo tracing paper with gold lettering, while the cover is of gold Arches paper printed with copper ink. Each book is hand-stitched with umber thread and housed in an embossed gold slipcase: this is a precious stone in book form.

Karl Lagerfeld war Modedesigner, Fotograf und Verleger. Für seine Fotografien erhielt er 2007 den Lucky Strike Design Award der Raymond Loewy Stiftung. Ausgezeichnet wurde er außerdem mit dem Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie und dem Trustees Award des International Center of Photography. Steidl hat die meisten seiner Bücher publiziert, darunter Casa Malaparte (1998), A Portrait of Dorian Gray (2004), Room Service (2006), The Beauty of Violence (2010) und seinen Bestseller The Little Black Jacket (2012). Lagerfeld starb am 19. Februar 2019 im Alter von 85 Jahren.