Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince).

SAINT-EXUPERY, Antoine de.

Item Number: 50090

New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1943.

Signed limited first edition in French (issued simultaneously with the English, though with a smaller limitation) of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s masterpiece. One of 260 numbered copies, this is number 61. Signed by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Small quarto, original salmon cloth. Fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket with light reinforcement to the verso. Housed in a custom clamshell box. A very sharp example.

The Little Prince has something of Hans Christian Andersen in it, something of Lewis Carroll, and even, it may perhaps be said, a bit of John Bunyan. It is often lyrical sometimes profound However it is classified, The Little Prince has entered children’s literature, in the manner of quite a few other such hard-to-define works in the preceding centuries" (Pierpont Morgan Library). It is one of the most-translated books in the world and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France. Translated into 300 languages and dialects (as well as Braille), selling nearly two million copies annually with sales totaling over 140 million copies worldwide, it has become one of the best-selling books ever published. A year after the book’s publication in 1943, Saint-Exupery disappeared over the Mediterranean while flying a reconnaissance mission for his French air squadron, making this signed limited very desirable. it is the basis for the 2015 English-language French 3D animated fantasy adventure family drama film directed by Mark Osborne. The film stars the voices of Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Paul Rudd, Bud Cort, Marion Cotillard, Benicio del Toro, James Franco, Ricky Gervais, Paul Giamatti, Riley Osborne, Albert Brooks and Mackenzie Foy.