Tintin Forums

Five curious listings have appeared on Egmont's website.

Tintin in America
ISBN=9781405240727

Cigars of the Pharaoh
ISBN=9781405240710

The Blue Lotus
ISBN=9781405240703

The Broken Ear ISBN=9781405240680

The Black Island ISBN=9781405240697

These appear to be English versions of the colour first-edition facsimiles recently reiussed over the past ten years by Casterman.

Unfortunately a quick web search gives some confused information. Egmont (who on this matter should probably be followed) says these five books will be hardback (consistent with them being facsimiles...) and released on 2nd June. Amazon.co.uk claims that they will be paperback and released in July. In addition, Amazon gives the short synopsis: "Looks at some of the author's early work on the Tintin adventures." Other websites give an August date.

Assuming this is what it seems, the most interesting book of the series will be The Black Island in its original 1943 format - in English!

An exciting development... let's hope some more information comes to light soon.

Ed

This look very interesting, especially The Black Island.

You would hope that the quoted price (£14-99) would indicate hard covers. And they do look like cloth spines...

The Black Island volume is also listed HERE has yet another release date, albeit in Canada.

George

Thanks for drawing these to our attention, Ed. They certainly look like cloth-spine hardback facsimiles of the earlier versions. (Amazon often has wrong info for books yet to be published, so I wouldn't place that much significance in their listing them as paperbacks.) If so, it's great that they're coming out in English, especially The Black Island, which I already have in French.

The other facsimile I have in French is Land of Black Gold, which has the Palestinian setting, and thus quite a lot of differently drawn pages in the early part of the book.

I wouldn't have thought there were that many differences between the facsimile and the modern versions of those other titles though, are there? Presumeably, the original colour book of America still has the black people who were whited up at the request of the US publisher. And maybe the soldiers who try to beat Tintin up in The Blue Lotus are still Brits rather than Sikhs (or was that change made earlier, when the adventure first went from b/w into colour?)

But, assuming these are facsimiles of the first colour editions rather than the earlier black and white books, I'm not sure what would be different from the modern editions in Cigars of the Pharaoh or The Broken Ear (apart from old fashioned priting on old-style paper, of course). Maybe I'm wrong, though. If there are differences, I'm sure someone will put me straight.

But in any case, I'm surprised Egmont aren't bringing out a facsimile of Land of Black Gold, which after The Black Island is surely the most interesting original colour version to see. But maybe, after the fuss about Congo, they're concerned about getting embroiled in a row about the portrayal of the Jewish gang and Palestinian politics generally!

I wonder if they've got plans to bring out an English version of that book of the original Tintin magazine version of Prisoners of the Sun, which I've seen in French. That'd be good.

In addition to my earlier post, King Ottokar's Sceptre will also be available:

King Ottokars Sceptre
ISBN=9781405240734

I've just had an email back from Egmont:

We are publishing colour facsimiles of the original editions of the titles below in July 08. These are English language versions of the first editions eg, The Black Island, which has been revised twice since publishing in 1943 will be a facsimile of the first printing. These are the only new Tintin titles we are producing this year. We will be announcing titles for 2009 towards the end of the year – watch the website for details.

TINTIN - CIGARS OF THE PHARAOH
9781405240710

TINTIN - KING OTTOKAR'S SCEPTRE
9781405240734

TINTIN - THE BLACK ISLAND
9781405240697

TINTIN - THE BLUE LOTUS
9781405240703

TINTIN - THE BROKEN EAR
9781405240680

TINTIN - TINTIN IN AMERICA
9781405240727

So that's it... the official word!

And maybe the soldiers who try to beat Tintin up in The Blue Lotus are still Brits rather than Sikhs (or was that change made earlier, when the adventure first went from b/w into colour?)

I'm fairly sure the change was made for the first colour edition, but could be wrong. I don't recall many changes between editions of Cigars of the Pharaoh or The Broken Ear, save for the deletion of Snowy from one frame of Cigars. Obviously Land of Black Gold is another must, perhaps for the future...?

Ed

Great news, and my birthday's in June ;

Though to be honest, I'm not too fussed about getting the full set of facsimiles - I've only got a little flat and it's overrun with books already! That said, I bet I'll end up picking up a couple to compare with the current volumes... can't help myself!

The Black Island is a must though, as I've been wanting to have a look at the first colour version for years! Never really got round to ordering the French version, and I can certainly wait a few months to get my hands on a shiny new English translation!

Now then Casterman, what about some more English B&W facsimiles to go along with these? It's getting on for two years since we got Blue Lotus!

I wouldn't have thought there were that many differences between the facsimile and the modern versions of those other titles though, are there?

When some of the colour fac-similes came out in French, I read the press release from Casterman. They were putting emphasis on the fact that, on the title page, the title was printed in blue rather than in black. They were also talking about differences in paper quality.

In Canada, a French language fac-simile costs twice as much as a modern edition. Whereas I think "Black Gold" is a must for me at one point down the road (and maybe "Coke en stock/Red Sea Sharks", because some of the French dialogue was changed), I don't see the point of paying $30.00 for a fac-simile of "Picaros" or "Unicorn"

This is great news but Broken ear hasnt been realeased yet in its black and white form im still waiting for that.I have had a look at the french version of black island that is listed up the top of the page and it looks brilliant.

This is great news but Broken ear hasnt been realeased yet in its black and white form im still waiting for that.

This may not be the correct thread for this, but what remains to be released in English anyway? Of the books that had proper mass-market releases in France/Belgium I mean.

There were originally 8 B&W books I think, so we've 3 to go there. How many pre-recast colour albums are there? We've 5 listed above; how many more could we reasonably hope for?

And is anyone else surprised that no-one has grabbed the Quick & Flupke nettle? I'd have thought Herge was still quite a big name in book shops, even for a minor work.

George

They are coming out £14.99 which is understandable the whole set for £100.If there all coming out around the same time you want to get them all i wish they were coming out at £9.99 then that is a reasonable price.I love the Tintin Books and would realy pay anything for them.Just wish they could be a bit cheaper.Is anyone here going to buy the whole set ?