"The Little Prince" by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, First Edition, First Printing, published by Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1943. Points of the first / first: salmon color cloth, no printing stated, "Reynal & Hitchock" is imprinted on spine, title page and copyright page; color flower on page 27, colophon on page 94.

Provenance:
"Vivian Bruen. May 1943" is ink-written on the front endpaper.

Facsimile (copy) of the later state dust jacket in mylar cover; hard boards, original publisher's salmon / orange cloth with red-brown lettering and illustration to front board, [cloth fading and wear: see photos]; name pen written on front endpaper, dated "May 1943"; 7.1/4" x 9", many monochrome and color illustrations by the author, 94 pages, some wear, very good binding and condition. See photos.

"The Little Prince" was first published by Reynal, New York in English translation and original French in April 1943. The French-French version appeared in Paris in 1946. This novella is both the most read and most translated book in the French language, and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery published "The Little Prince" only a year before his Lockheed P-38 vanished over the Mediterranean during a reconnaissance mission. More than a half century later, this fable of love and loneliness has lost none of its power. The narrator is a downed pilot in the Sahara Desert, frantically trying to repair his wrecked plane. His efforts are interrupted one day by the apparition of a little, well, prince, who asks him to draw a sheep. "In the face of an overpowering mystery, you don't dare disobey," the narrator recalls." The Little Prince lived alone on a tiny planet no larger than a house. He possessed three volcanoes, two active and one extinct, although one never knows about volcanoes. He also owned a flower, unlike any flower in all the galaxy, of great beauty and of inordinate pride. It was this pride that ruined the serenity of the Little Prince's world and started him on the travels that brought him at last to the Earth where he learned finally, from a fox, the secret of what is really important in life..."

The book is known for it's wonderful story line as well as for the charming illustrations throughout. "There are a few stories which in some way, in some degree, change the world forever for their readers. This is one."

US: Priority (c.2-4 days) ---------- $22.50
Canada: Express (c.5-9 days) ------- $64.50
World: Express (c.7-10 days) ------- $84.95