Tintin Forums

Hello fellow Tintin fans,

I have just recently acquired Tintin in America, Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus. They are the English hardcover Casterman versions, with a red cloth spine from Amazon.jp.

As far as I can understand from the informative place this is (I'm talking about you guys, not Amazon), Casterman also published a hardback cloth spine version of Tintin in the Congo.

I've been looking everywhere I can think of but the closet I have gotten so far is a version with - as far as I can tell - a green (or greenish) cloth spine. Also the size differs slightly according to Amazon.jp (31 cm to 30.5 cm).

I would like to ask those of you in the know - if the above makes any sense to you, that is - if a Casterman red cloth spine version of Tintin in the Congo in English exists?

I assume you're talking about the black and white facsimiles. There were two editions of Congo and they both have green cloth spines. But I've not come across one with a red spine.

See the covers here https://www.tintinologist.org/guides/books/02congo.html

Harrock n roll, thank you for your reply and help.
And yes, I was referring to the B/W facsimiles, sorry I forgot to mention that part. So, one green and three red hmmm... inconsistency really is the name of the game, I guess.
Anyway, I'll see if the green one is still cheap for sale here in Japan and go with that one. Once again, thanks for taking your time to help me out, I appreciate it.

You're welcome. Incidentally, if you were to get just one of the Congo facsimiles, I recommend getting the edition with the Ford Model-T cover because it has four colour plates.


I think the original spines were that colour. Soviets had a blue spine like the original. There might even have been some design scheme to match the covers. Certainly the green spine looks nice on Congo, especially the more recent edition with the green lettering. But later, they discovered... red!

To add to HnR's comments above, I've take a look at the following, and measured up my copies (I'd got a bit of time to kill, and a ruler at hand!):

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (English "facsimile" edition):
Blue cloth spine, published by Sundancer 1989, 317mm x 244m

Tintin in the Congo (1st English "facsimile" edition, white cover):
Green cloth spine, published by Sundancer 1991, 312mm x 239mm

Tintin in the Congo (2nd English "facsimile" edition, yellow cover, 4 colour plates):
Green cloth spine, published by Casterman 2004, 307mm x 232mm

Curiously the art in the 2nd version of Congo is actually printed slightly bigger than in the first, although the cover and pages are smaller (there is less margin around the outside of the page): for example, the first frame on the first page of the 1st version is 171.5mm x 78.5mm; it's 175mm x 80mm in the second.

Thanks for all the help and replies.


I think I'll do just that. The ones I've already purchased have the color plates. The covers will also match, as in not having the 'reporter for the ....' written on the cover.


Lol! I't 's over childhood Tintin all over again.

jock123 [size], That also had me puzzled. From the sparse info I could get from Amazon and other book vendors it seemed like the size didn't "match up", so to speak. Information from Amazon isn't always to be trusted, so thank you (and your ruler) for taking the time and clearing that one out for me.

number1fan and jock123, I already placed an order for Tintin in the Soviets (hardcover) from Amazon.jp. Looking at the Amazon pictures, the spine seems to be either purple or black. From your posts above, I'm pretty sure it is the blue cloth spine facsimile edition you are talking about that I ordered. Hopefully it is.


Ha-ha! Yes it would, wouldn't it. [Honey, how 'bout we buy one of each?] Hm! Apparently that's NOT the solution.
Maybe I can just rent that extra copy a room and visit it on the side.