Tintin Forums

Having recently spent a few days in Belgium I have a question for the expert book collectors on these boards.
I was a bit surprised to see a facsimile of the first edition of Picaros, partly because it seems like only yesterday it came out (I still think of it as the "new" Tintin book!), but mainly because it is presented with a rounded spine in yellow, without any writing, along the lines of the original cloth-spined books, but made of card like the rest of the cover. It also has the old island scene with the large bill-board on the back cover.
My sister brought me a copy from France of the same book when it came out, and it is perfect bound, with the name of the book and the author on the spine, and the thumbnail gallery of book covers, and the bit in the middle with listings of the movie books, the Archives etc. I've always assumed that it was the first edition - maybe not a first printing, but certainly very early.
Now, what does the facsimile represent? The only copies I saw were shrink-wrapped, so I never got "hands-on" experience.
I know that Hergé was known to produce (or have produced by Casterman) limited editions which would go to guests at the launch party and such, and I'm sure that there was such an edition for Picaros - is that what has been copied? If so, it should (I believe) have end-papers showing sketch-art pencil pages from the story, as opposed to the "portrait gallery".
If not, has it just been created for this new edition?

I believe it has been created for this new edition, from what I could fathom from the comments about it at the Casterman site.

As you say, strictly speaking it's not a facsimile of the first edition, because of the yellow spine (the original was a printed spine). I think Flight 714 was also given the same treatment, which also originally came with a printed spine. It also appears to be printed on matt paper like the other facsimiles. Probably this was done so that it ties in with the other facsimiles.