The Little Prince script up for sale for $1.2 million in Abu Dhabi

French author, who died fighting against the Nazis, never saw it published in his homeland

The Little Prince is widely thought to be the world's most translated book, apart from the Bible. Victor Besa / The National

The only privately owned script of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince is on sale at Abu Dhabi Art.

London dealers Peter Harrington Rare Books are selling the type-written script from 1943 for £950,000 ($1.2 million).

Saint-Exupery wrote the story of a little boy from another planet when he was living in New York in 1942, when his native France was under occupation by the Nazis. His story of kindness and friendship has become one of the most beloved children’s books in history, ranking second to the Bible in the number of its translations, according to reports.

The young prince meets a pilot who tries to explain the ways of the human world to him, but the boy sees through the pageantry and hypocrisy to give a message of justice and sincerity.

In this typescript at Abu Dhabi Art, one can see the author working through what became the book’s best-known line, which is translated as: “It is only with the heart that one can truly see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” A close look at the draft reveals that Saint-Exupery initially wrote: “That which is most important is cannot be seen,” before crossing it out in pencil and writing above it the formulation that now graces the back of the book.

A cancelled cheque for $100 is also being offered for sale. After Saint-Exupery finished the manuscript, he left for Africa to fly for the Free French Forces. Since he could not find a French air officer’s uniform in New York, he went to Brooks Uniforms – now the famous Brooks Brothers clothing chain – and ordered a specially made approximation of the French digs.

It was in this uniform that he died six months later, after his plane crashed in the North African desert – much like, with eerie foreboding – the pilot in The Little Prince.

“There were three typescripts that were done,” bookseller Peter Harrington tells The National. “One is in Texas, another is in the French National Library and this is the third one, which was retained by the family until the 1980s. This one is the most corrected. It has around 55 pages with corrections, including the famous line for the first time.”

Harrington acquired the typescript from a private sale and has brought it to Abu Dhabi Art, where he is displaying it for the first time – though his gallery has previously appeared at the Abu Dhabi Book Fair and the Sharjah Book Fair.

This year, Abu Dhabi Art has introduced rare booksellers and historical dealers, both in the main section and in the Collector's Forum, in which astrolabes and other historical artefacts are being shown to the public for sale.

The Saint-Exupery offerings, which also include two sketches of the little prince character, are made all the more poignant because of the link to the uniform via the cheque, which Harrington believes a collector added to the folder.

“He turned up in his uniform [to meet his friend],” says Ben Houston, sales director at the dealership. "He gave her the manuscript, and said: 'I wish I had something more to give you, but this is it.' He never saw it published in France. It was first published in America, in English and in French. But he died before it was published in his home country.”