# Is "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1943) is identified by: New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, April 1943, in two simultaneous issues — Katherine Woods's English translation (The Little Prince) and Saint-Exupéry's original French text (Le Petit Prince). The census claim is confirmed in substance: both the original French text and the English translation first appeared from Reynal & Hitchcock in New York in April 1943, not from a French house — the famous reversal is real.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, April 1943, in two simultaneous issues — Katherine Woods's English translation (The Little Prince) and Saint-Exupéry's original French text (Le Petit Prince)
- For the English trade issue the title-page imprint must read 'Reynal & Hitchcock, Inc.'; the copyright notice carries no edition or printing numbering; and the last-page colophon must be present, with no mention of Harcourt anywhere
- The French issue additionally carries the 'mark of the raven' on p
- 63: a small black spot at the horizon, on the right at the foot of the peak in the mountain-top illustration, resembling a bird in flight — an artefact of the original French printing
- It disappears when the type was reset at the sixth French edition, though it is already not consistently present on the fifth, so its absence is only a rough guide to a later printing (the raven is a French-issue point and does not appear in the English text)
- Signed limited issues accompany the trade issues, signed by the author on a tipped-in limitation leaf: the English limitation is 525 numbered copies (500 for sale) and the French 260 numbered copies (250 for sale) — the '500' figure sometimes cited for the English is the for-sale portion of the 525, not a competing total
- Publisher imprint reads Reynal & Hitchcock, New York

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry |
| Publisher | Reynal & Hitchcock, New York |
| Year | 1943 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, April 1943, in two simultaneous issues — Katherine Woods's English translation (The Little Prince) and… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, April 1943, in two simultaneous issues — Katherine Woods's English translation (The Little Prince) and Saint-Exupéry's original French text (Le Petit Prince). For the English trade issue the title-page imprint must read 'Reynal & Hitchcock, Inc.'; the copyright notice carries no edition or printing numbering; and the last-page colophon must be present, with no mention of Harcourt anywhere. The French issue additionally carries the 'mark of the raven' on p. 63: a small black spot at the horizon, on the right at the foot of the peak in the mountain-top illustration, resembling a bird in flight — an artefact of the original French printing. It disappears when the type was reset at the sixth French edition, though it is already not consistently present on the fifth, so its absence is only a rough guide to a later printing (the raven is a French-issue point and does not appear in the English text). Signed limited issues accompany the trade issues, signed by the author on a tipped-in limitation leaf: the English limitation is 525 numbered copies (500 for sale) and the French 260 numbered copies (250 for sale) — the '500' figure sometimes cited for the English is the for-sale portion of the 525, not a competing total. Jacket point: the Reynal & Hitchcock Fourth Avenue address at the front flap, with the price present at the flap. Cloth colour is NOT a reliable point — the specialist Petit Prince Collection census records that cover cloth colour varies both between and within editions in both languages (the third English edition alone is known in green, sea-green and blue-grey), so the widely repeated 'salmon cloth, not blue' test should not be relied on.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is confirmed in substance: both the original French text and the English translation first appeared from Reynal & Hitchcock in New York in April 1943, not from a French house — the famous reversal is real. Sources conflict on sequencing within April 1943: several date the English issue to 6 April 1943 with the French following a few days later, while dealers describing the 260-copy French limitation call that the true first. Both New York issues are collected and the days-level precedence is not settled here. Gallimard's Paris edition is the first French edition published in France: printing was completed 30 November 1945 but it was not released until April 1946, and Gallimard dates it 1946. It is a hardcover of 93 pp. in blue cloth with the Little Prince and the "nrf" device stamped in red, under a jacket closely resembling the American one. It is set from the American French text and carries its own errors — the asteroid is numbered "3251" in Paris against "325" in New York, and a star is missing from the astronomer's telescope scene.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The dominant trap is publisher succession, not a book club: Reynal & Hitchcock was bought by Harcourt, Brace & Company in 1948, which became Harcourt, Brace & World in 1960, and those later printings carry only the 1943 copyright date — they are routinely offered as firsts on the strength of that date alone. Test the imprint, not the date: any Harcourt name on the title or copyright page rules out the first printing. Confirm the last-page colophon is present and the copyright notice carries no edition numbering. In French, later printings lose the p. 63 raven mark from the sixth edition (and it is already inconsistent on the fifth). Cloth colour and jacket artwork are not reliable tells, and jackets on this title are frequently restored or supplied.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Little Prince* by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-little-prince
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.