When a rare manuscript of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince went up for sale, the literary world—including book dealers, art enthusiasts, and adults who “remember”—was abuzz. Filled with the author’s comments, the copy’s price tag was a whopping $1.25 million.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (ahn-TWAHN deh SAHNT egg-ZOO-peh-REE) was published at the height of World War II. It is one of the world’s best-selling books. Experts say the volume has sold more than the first Harry Potter and The Hobbit combined. The classic has been translated into over 500 languages. Only the Bible exists in more.
Saint-Exupéry wrote The Little Prince in the style of a children’s book. The novella tells of a young boy who travels from planet to planet and eventually to Earth. Simple exchanges between the prince and the narrator, a stranded aviator modeled after the author, tackle themes from friendship and loneliness to love and loss. The Little Prince also makes poignant reflections on adults, human nature, and life.
A member of the French air force, Saint-Exupéry fled France after its fall to the Nazis. In 1940, he sought voluntary exile in the United States. But the former aviator never stopped longing for his homeland’s security. Someone advised him to write a children’s book to relieve stress.
Saint-Exupéry re-joined French forces shortly after his book’s 1943 publication. His plane disappeared on a mission in 1944, and he was presumed dead.
The auctioned typescript is one of only three known copies. It features what may 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.”
Seeing with the heart sounds noble, but it’s only partly true. Apart from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, God calls the human heart deceitful and wicked. (Jeremiah 17:9) The second part of the quotation, however, echoes the sentiment of 2 Corinthians 4:18: that eternal things are unseen in this life.
Besides the author’s handwritten corrections, the battered typescript also contains two pencil sketches by Saint-Exupéry, including a drawing for the book’s final illustration.
Rare book dealer Sammy Jay says the typescript is “quite simply the most exceptional example of [the heart of an author’s process] that I’ve ever seen or had the opportunity to be involved with.”
After 13 years in the business, Jay calls The Little Prince manuscript “a high point.” He says, “I don’t quite see how I’m ever going to beat this.”
Why? The God who calls Himself the Word (John 1:1) and who reveals Himself in the written scriptures enables humans to write in ways that reflect His glory, beauty, and truth.
