By Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Reynal & Hitchcock, New York 1943. True First Printing First Edition of this landmark 20th century title. Profusely illustrated by author in black and white and color. Due to the occupation of France Saint-Exupery had the initial printing in English out of New York with the French edition (also Reynal & Hitchcock) released shortly there after. In 1944, one year after the publication of THE LITTLE PRINCE, Exupery, with a copy of the French edition in his pocket, managed to fly again for the French Airforce and tragically vanished over the Mediterranean.

First printing book and dustjacket have specific issue points which are frequently misrepresented. This copy meets all first state points as listed:

1. Reynal & Hitchcock as publisher (later editions by Harcourt Brace)

2. salmon colored boards (book club edition was in tan boards)

3. no printing listed on copyright page (with later printings stating second, third etc.)

4. 5 line colophon on last printed page stating "This edition is printed in Linotype Granjon…."

5. priced at $2.00

6. address for Reynal and Hitchcock on the front end paper 386 fourth Ave (later moved to Madison Ave).

Book is in NEAR FINE condition. Boards are extremely clean and bright with no fraying or soiling. Spine is tight and straight with minor bumping at head and heel. Corners are sharp. There is a neat owner’s name and address to FFEP and minor foxing/spotting to rear pastedown as shown. Internally no markings, writing, tears, or wear. Pages 88 & 89 with 2” x 4” darkened area due to earlier newsprint article inserted. This appears to have been a lightly read copy.

Dustjacket is unclipped and in NEAR FINE condition, price intact ($2.00) and with no restoration. There is very minor wear to the spine tips which does not affect lettering or illustration. Some minor age darkening and soiling to panels. Jacket flaps are full and in tack.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: This copy may have been from the library of Amy Beach, composer. The prior owner’s name on the front free endpaper reads "Amy Beach, 440 Riverside Drive New York, 1944". Amy Marcy Beach (Mrs. H.H.A Beach, born in Henniker, NH, Sept 5th, 1867 and died in New York on Dec 27th, 1944) was a prodigious American composer and pianist. She wrote much in a post-Brahms style comparable with that of Chadwick and Foote and toured Europe as a pianist and composer, 1911-14. Thereafter she spent many summers at the MacDowell Colony, coming under the influence of MacDowell and Debussy. She was the first American woman to succeed as a composer of large-scale music and was celebrated as the foremost woman composer of her time in the USA. Her songs were widely sung and The Canticle of the Sun (1928) is still in the church repertory. Her Symphony in E (the "Gaelic") demonstrates her ability to master larger forms, and is one of the first works by an American to answer Antonin Dvorák’s challenge to use national themes in their compositions. On July 9th, 2000 Amy Beach’s name was carved into the granite facade at the Boston Symphony Orchestra Hatch Shell joining the names of 86 other composers such as Bach, Handel, Chopin, Debussy, MacDowell and Beethoven. She is the only woman composer who has been so honored.