60 Great Books Bauman Rare Books - 20 - Wonderful, Extremely Scarce Ink And Watercolor Drawing Of The Little Prince, An Actual Finished Drawing Used For The Book 17a. SAINT-EXUPERY, Antoine de. Original ink and watercolor drawing [“The Little Prince”]. New York, circa 1943. Brown ink drawing on white onionskin paper, heightened with red and sepia washes, measuring 8 by 6 inches; beautifully framed, entire piece measures 15 by 13 inches. $45,000. Original finished ink and watercolor drawing SaintExupery executed for his Little Prince, this one showing the Little Prince watching his flower’s first bloom (page 29). The original manuscript in the Morgan Library contains only preliminary drawings and this particular subject is not among them. Saint-Exupery’s talent as an artist is a topic he discusses at length in the beginning of The Little Prince. This is the finished drawing for the illustration on page 29 of The Little Prince, depicting his flower’s first bloom: “Then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself.” War pilot Saint-Exupery had fled to New York after the fall of France, where he waited with impatience to find some avenue by which he could rejoin the war effort. He wrote The Little Prince in New York during the remainder of 1941 and throughout 1942. In March of 1943, at about the same time as he received his embarkation papers for North Africa (despite his age and health, he was able to join the American forces as a reconnaissance pilot), The Little Prince was published in New York. Saint-Exupery was lost the following year in a mission over the Mediterranean. Fine. Original material from The Little Prince is rare and in great demand. Signed Limited First Edition Of The Little Prince 17b. SAINT-EXUPERY, Antoine de. The Little Prince. New York, 1943. Small quarto, original tan cloth, dust jacket. $24,000. Signed limited first edition, one of only 525 copies signed by Saint-Exupery. Because the author disappeared in a reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean in 1944 signed copies of this, the last work published during his lifetime, are very desirable. Reid, 564. Book about-fine. Scarce price-clipped dust jacket quite bright, with only light creasing, slightest toning and a few small closed tears to extremities, tape repair to verso. An exceptional copy. “The Little Prince is a book that you pass on to your children, grandchildren, friends and loved ones.”—Forbes
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