The Little Prince typescript, hand-corrected by Saint-Exupéry, on sale for US$1.25 million

For sale in the UAE, the typescript, one of only three known to exist, contains handwritten corrections by author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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A rare typescript of The Little Prince, one of only three known copies, is going on sale for US$1.25 million at Abu Dhabi Art, an art fair that runs from November 20 to 24. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:15pm, 9 Nov 2024

A rare typescript of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, containing extensive handwritten corrections by the French author and described by book dealers as “literary treasure”, will soon go on sale for US$1.25 million.

A candidate for the world’s most translated book outside of religious texts, the novella about a child who travels from planet to planet gaining wisdom was published in 1943 at the height of the second world war.

Bound in a worn, black cover, the French-language typescript of Le Petit Prince was produced in New York during the author’s exile from Nazi-occupied France, just before he left to serve in the Free French Air Force fighting the occupation.

The other two of the three known copies in existence sit in France’s national library and the Harry Ransom Centre in the US state of Texas.

A rare carbon typescript of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s Le Petit Prince, featuring handwritten corrections and original sketches by the author. Photo: Reuters

The typescript features what is thought to be the first written appearance of one of the book’s most famous lines: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; the essential is invisible to the eye.”