The 24.39 show is spread over three crowded floors at Pavillon Wagram.
Last year, Parisian dealer Barnabé Moinard took over the reins of Bruno Tartarin's hugely popular tabletop fair, Photo Discovery–The Fair, and renamed it 24.39. And last year, as Paris Photo returned to the Grand Palais, Moinard decided to bring the tabletop fair from the Pullman Hotel back to its previous venue, Pavillon Wagram. This year the Saturday fair brought together nearly 50 dealers from both sides of the Atlantic, including--among others--Marcel Minck, Alex Novak, Milaneum, Paul Cordes, Daniella Dangoor, Daniel/Oliver, Adnan Sezer, Johannes Faber, Carlos Vertanessian and Rare Photo Gallery.
Among the visitors were curators Jeff Rosenheim, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Sylvie Aubenas, BnF. Other curators were also on the hunt at the show, including Barbara Tannenbaum from the Cleveland Museum of Art, as well as curators from Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands. Several leading dealers from Paris Photo attended, including Michael Hoppen, London, who told me, "I bought a lot of good stuff, but then I got here at 7:30 am. Can you believe it? It just shows you how sick I am!"
Hans P. Kraus, Jr., New York, also in attendance, told me. "I thought it was wonderful. I was able to find a few things so it was certainly worthwhile. The place was packed and the atmosphere was great."
Stefan Fiedler, Vienna, one of the promoters of the Vienna Vintage Photo Fair, was a first-time exhibitor this year and told me, "The 24-39 fair was once again fantastic. There were many qualified visitors--especially in the morning--from around the world, and I achieved good sales. I just wished that there were more young visitors, art students, emerging photographers, creative industry and lifestyle crowds, etc. coming to the classic photography shows. There is so much to discover!"
Fiedler did not buy much at the fair, "I had my own table and luckily it kept me busy for most of the day. I brought, and sold a mixed bag: a Daguerreotypomanie lithograph by Maurisset from December 1839, a hand-colored point-de-vue etching of Daguerre's Diorama in Paris, one Physionotrace, a couple of small Jos-Pe early color prints from the 1920s, some curious vernacular RPPCs (the buyer called it "unintentional modernism"), three multi-photo portrait sheets with mint paper overlays and a few more things. It was a result, I think."
Alex Novak in conversation with Curators Jeff Rosenheim and Sylvie Aubenas.
Alex Novak of Vintage Works, Ltd., Philadelphia, and Argentine Carlos Vertanessian shared a table. Usually it's Novak who acquired the table in the past and shared it with Vertanessian, but this time it was the other way round. Novak told me, "I hadn't brought anything to sell to Paris, but I wound up buying more than a bit privately and at auction there, so I thought I would try to do a quick turnaround. I wound up selling four wonderful Atget's to two collectors, one English and the other American—both new to me. Frankly, I did better profit-wise than at either AIPAD or Paris Photo over the last few years, largely due to the low cost of the table rental and no shipping or staff costs, so the buyers also got the benefit with a lower price. There seemed to be more seriousness about buying among attendees, unlike at big fairs, to be honest. More buying, less looking."
James Kerr of Pump Park Vintage Photography, Belfast, told me, "I have to confess that my stock was pretty thin this year. It has been difficult to buy interesting material in my sphere, which is mostly 19th-century travel, with an emphasis on Japan and China. Also, I'm dealing with what might be described as mature collectors: folk who have already acquired a lot of what they want, and are at the stage of filling gaps in their collection; so I'm often walking past material that I might have bought in the past. Outside that core area, I did have a copy of Coburn's 'London' book of early 20th-century photogravures, which attracted quite a bit of interest, and may well find a new home after the event.
James and Shemaine Kerr of Pump Park Photos.
Kerr had made decent sales, "Given my paucity of interesting material, I'm happy with how we did. I sold a nice group of 19th-century Japanese prints to a French gallery, some individual prints to both dealers and collectors, and we had a large box of fixed price bargains, which was a lot emptier by the end of the day! I think it's important to be flexible with pricing. If I move older stock on at sensible prices, everyone wins. There is no point in sitting on items forever just because you can't achieve a certain price: sell it, maybe make a new customer, and have them walk away feeling they've done well. They'll be back, maybe for something a bit further up the ladder."
As for the fair overall, Kerr commented, "I thought it was a great day. Barnabe has done a good job building on the very solid base that was put in place by Bruno. He's continuing to get the fair noticed, and the room was busy all day. I also like that he is working with the other European fair organizers to try to build the profile of the sector. It is this sort of enthusiasm that we need, if we are to get new collectors to take an interest in classic photography.
Barnabé Moinard had his tables at the fair, "I brought an eclectic selection inspired by my recent exhibitions and hangings: a chrono photograph of a butterfly, paper clips on an electric chair, a beautiful Greek frieze, some flowers, quite a lot of images of Paris, and of course images of a few sculptures. Together they formed a kind of rebus!"
Barnabé Moinard, promoter of the 24.39 fair.
As for sales, Moinard told me, "Few sales, but good ones. However, the result was a bit skewed, as I was mostly busy welcoming people and making sure the fair ran smoothly, which was expected. Still, I sold a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower with an astonishing silver mirror: it seemed to sparkle! I also sold a press photograph with laser effects as well, along with several other strange press photographs."
Moinard had made certain changes this year. "We went all out on communication in the press and on social media. The second edition brought confidence and credibility and we have to take advantage of that. We also made sure to offer better reception and clearer signage, with exhibitor lists, for example. I'm sure we can combine friendliness with business. We did our best to improve both criteria, which I believe worked quite well."
Moinard was pleased with this year's edition. "On Sunday morning, three foreign dealers were already asking me for the registration form for 2026, and they weren't even in Paris! It shows that the message really got through. The fair went really well: I think the exhibitors could feel that everything was done to give them the best possible conditions for selling. The vibe was great, and there were plenty of people. That's what I heard from everyone.
"I also think the launch of Vintage Photo Fairs Europe, the organization I helped found in August this is reassuring. It's still in its early days but it gives the market a sense of direction and visibility, so that people can plan ahead with confidence, even in a slower, gloomier period."
Michael Diemar is editor-in-chief of The Classic, a print and digital magazine about classic photography. In August 2025, he cofounded Vintage Photo Fairs Europe, an organization focused on promoting independent tabletop fairs in Europe and spreading knowledge about classic photography in general. He is a long-time writer about the photography scene, writing extensively for several Scandinavian photography publications, as well as for the E-Photo Newsletter and I Photo Central.
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