Hi,

I was wondering if anyone else has come across this? I have a Tintin book from 1965 (Explorers on the Moon, Methuen) On the back the description says:

" "It's the END of the WORLD!" declares Professor Phostle, as an enormous star hurtles towards the earth. But he is disappointed - the star brushes past, leaving only a vast meteorite which falls in Arctic waters. However, there is no mistake about the Professor's discovery of a valuable new metal in the meteorite; it is worth a colossal fortune, and i a hazardous search in polar regions Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock encounter some of their strangest adventures. "

Although the boldly printed title correctly reads 'Explorers on the Moon', the above is obviously the back page description from 'The Shooting Star'.

David

Back it back to the shop. That's what I did.

Well if you had purchased it in 1965 I doubt you could get a refund.If it was more recently then maybe you could.Maybe there was one miss print or a whole batch.Could be worth something if its a first English edition.

Yes I think I may have a problem taking it back although I didn't purchase it in 1965. I found it in a second hand bookshop. It's not a first edition, its a second printing unfortunately. It is a nice curiosity to have though.

As you say, it is a curiosity - but probably not worth anything extra; it's been discussed before, but the fact is that collectors tend to want perfect, or near to perfect, examples of books. Having one with a mistake in it usually leads to the value falling, rather than increasing. But it is unusual, and in this case it doesn't affect the enjoyment of the story, so an interesting thing to have.

My copy from 1965 has exactly the same error on the back.

I think it was bought for me as a child in around '67/'68.

I also have a copy from 1959 (bought on ebay) which has the correct description.

Update:
Actually I just realized stupidly that the books I am referring to are both Destination Moon, not Explorers; which goes to show the error was actually more widespread.

regards,
mat

My 1965 copy has it too.

Perhaps a large batch of these got misprinted. It's quite likely that one without a mistake is harder to come by.

I once sold a Tintin in Tibet with the last page glued to the back of the book and missing the first 5 pages.What were the printers thinking.

Then maybe the description of explorers on the moon got printed on the back of the shooting star.