Publication of The Little Prince

Also called: Le Petit Prince

In exile in New York, Saint-Exupéry published The Little Prince with his own illustrations — translated into hundreds of languages, one of the most-read books in the world.

After France fell to Germany in 1940, Saint-Exupéry, who had fought as a reconnaissance pilot, crossed to the United States at the end of that year and lived in New York. Homesick for his country and his friends, he wrote, at his publisher’s suggestion, a fable for grown-ups and painted its watercolours himself.

On 6 April 1943 Reynal & Hitchcock of New York published The Little Prince in English and French. The story of an airman stranded in the desert who meets a prince from a tiny planet became known for the fox’s words, “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” In France it appeared only in 1946, after he was gone.