UAE: Original 'Little Prince' typescript to be sold for at least $1.25 million in Abu Dhabi

A specialist London bookstore is selling an original typescript of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's children's classic 'The Little Prince', complete with the author's hand-written corrections and revisions.

The battered book and Saint-Exupery's passport, issued by the French culture ministry, will go on sale at the Abu Dhabi Art 2024 fair which opens on November 20, with an expected price of at least $1.25 million.

It was acquired earlier this year for an undisclosed sum by rare books specialist store Peter Harrington.

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The typescript also contains numerous drawings by the author as well as his famous phrase "One only sees clearly with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes".

Sammy Jay, of Peter Harrington Rare Books, said it was one of three known versions of the transcript, one of which is held by the National Library of France (BNF).

"Unlike the other two which were given to people, he kept this one and it was his own working copy of the typescript so that's what makes it extra special," Jay said.

In addition to the handwritten corrections, the version due to be sold includes passages that were later edited out. Such a book is extremely unusual in the rare books market, where sky-high prices are not the norm.

"You don't usually get something of this status," Jay said, citing the example of the scroll typescript for Jack Kerouac's novel 'On The Road', which sold for $2.4 million in 2001.

"The market for rare and ancient books is very different from any other market in the sense that you don't often sell for millions," he said.