A private collection by the Valencian journalist and writer Toni Mestre (Altea, 1942 - Valencia, 2006), director of the first public radio programme in Valencian “de dalt a baix” (Radio Peninsular, RNE), which was first broadcast in the time of Franco and continued uninterruptedly until the end of the 1980's.
One of his hobbies was collecting old photographs, and over the years he built up a large collection which he bought at markets, jumble sales and antique stores, leading to a huge collection of family and amateur photographs. Albums, events, weddings, baptisms, journeys and everyday life. An array of portraits in visiting and cabinet card formats from the turn of the century. Society photographs of post-war Spain, between 1940 and 1950. There are also some popular Valencian celebrations and events showing cultural and editorial life from the 1970’s. Another part of the collection includes a large number of slides showing works of art in European museums, which he bought during his travels. Another set of slides consists of erotic graffiti from the 1970's and 1980's. In total there are over 5000 photographs in all formats: paper, negatives and slides.
