Century of press photos goes up for Paris auction

PARIS - Agence France-Presse

This photo shows Jerry Lewis, one of the photos in the century of archives of the International Herald Tribune that will be up for auction in Paris.

From snaps of Cary Grant or John Lennon, to Leonid Brezhnev whispering in Richard Nixon’s ear, the International Herald Tribune newspaper puts a century of photo archives up for auction in Paris this month.

Around 2,500 shots by the paper, grouped into 300 lots, will go under the hammer on Nov. 19 at the Drouot auction house, telling the story of the 20th century in pictures, the auctioneers said.

Jean Cocteau, Jean Seberg, Igor Stravinsky and General de Gaulle are among the figures immortalised in the paper’s archives, with estimates ranging from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per lot.
Together, Drouot said, the pictures retrace the history of political, diplomatic and cultural ties between Europe and the United States, as captured by the newspaper which turned 125 this year.
The entire collection is valued at around 320,000 euros.

Many still bear crop marks, as well as technical data and print date on the back. The collection is on show at the France-Ameriques association in Paris until Nov. 13, and will be displayed at Drouot from Nov. 17 to 19.

 Founded on Oct. 4, 1887, the newspaper aimed to provide American expats in Paris with news from home, from stock prices to the latest baseball scores.

 It settled on its current name in 1967, after the New York Times and Washington Post took stakes in the paper following the collapse of the New York Herald Tribune.

The New York Times took full ownership of the IHT in 2003, and today it has editorial hubs in Paris and Hong Kong, with distribution in more than 160 countries.