Pierre Lafitte (journalist)

He joined the editorial staff of La Petite Gironde, a local daily newspaper, then Véloce-sport, a sports weekly, which he helped modernise and for which he covered the first Bordeaux-Paris cycle race in 1891.

In 1897, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the weekly La Vie au grand air, which he transformed into a magazine mainly illustrated with photography: this new formula was released on April 1, 1898, and Lafitte took control of it.

Not limited to magazines, Lafitte published abundantly illustrated special albums from April 1907; renewed the popular novel by republishing in cheap collections the adventures of Arsène Lupin, Rouletabille and Sherlock Holmes illustrated by Gaston Simoes de Fonseca, which had been serialized in Je sais tout; and created a collection of coloured children's board books, under the direction of Franc-Nohain, the "Lilliput-Bibliothèque", and the "Ideal-Bibliothèque", launched in July 1909 at 95 centimes per volume.

[14] During the First World War, the Excelsior newspaper was no longer profitable, Pierre Lafitte had to sell part of his productions to Hachette, including some of his periodical publications such as Je sais tout in 1916, as well as his premises located at 88-90 avenue des Champs-Élysées in which he had opened in 1917.

Lafitte remained, by contract, literary director, then technical director of his editions taken over by Hachette who allowed him to found a monthly magazine entitled Flirt - literature, arts, elegance in 1922, subsequently merged partially with La Vie au grand air as a new monthly, Très sport, "the only technical and practical magazine for the automobile and all sports written by the champions", which folded in 1926.

During the 1930s, a period of economic upheaval in the broader press, he became an advisor to major titles such as Le Figaro (technical director and vice-president), Paris-Soir and L'Intransigeant.