The Front Page: From The International Herald Tribune 1887-1992

"In 1980, the International Herald Tribune published a first collection of front pages reprinted from its archives. Much has happened in the years since then, and we are now pleased to make available the expanded selection of front pages which comprise this volume. We hope they will communicate to readers at least some of the emotion and urgency which surrounded pivotal moments in history when they were still 'this morning's headlines'. Out of more than 35,000 front pages which have been printed since 1887, 150 have been selected for reproduction. The selection was often difficult. We found that some crucial stories had not been judged at the time to have front page significance; in other cases, it was difficult to select just one front page from dozens in which a breaking story was chronicled. Nonetheless, this collection touches on the major events and personalities of the century. The history these pages reveal is recorded from a unique point of view - that of Americans writing in English for a publication based in France. This blend of American outlook and European environment has produced, from the first, a distinctive awareness of the world. When the New York Herald's Paris edition began publication in 1887, most papers in Europe and America were largely journals of opinion. This tradition had been challenged, however, by James Gordon Bennett's highly successful New York Herald - in which the emphasis was on 'news and more news' and opinion was treated separately. It was this new American newspaper style which Bennett's son and successor, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., introduced to Europe with the founding of the Paris edition. From the beginning, the Paris Herald was a newspaper for people of means and education. Early editions carried their full share of social news, much of it centering around the American expatriate community. But this orientation was accompanied by world news coverage which, for its day, was remarkably extensive..." [from the Foreword]