A REMARKABLE 20th century ethnographic photo archive will be auctioned off in Oxford today.

More than 500 pictures and portraits by the Czech photographer Ludwig Jindra will be sold by Mallams in St Michael's Street.

The auction house said the collection provided a 'fascinating' glimpse into the life of one of the county's leading practitioners of the art.

Spokesman Jack Stinson said: "This collection is an important ethnographic record of the mid-20th century.

"It includes some wonderful images of The Far East including China; North Africa recording the Tuareg and Nigerian peoples c.1935; London just post-war and a trip to South Africa’s Kruger Park in the 1950s."

Jindra was commissioned by his government in the 1930s to conduct a ‘world tour’ and record his travels photographically.

He died in South Africa in 1985.

The collection, which is being sold by the son of a close friend of the photographer, comprises some 500 30x38cm images, inscribed and stamped, and mounted two to a board.

Mallams will also today be running a sale of Czech sculpture atelier by Franta Belsky and Irena Sedlecka, both of the same era as Jindra.

The sale will run from 5pm today.

To find out more go to mallams.co.uk, email oxfordtwo@mallams.co.uk or call 01865 241358.