Tintin Forums

Hello all. One day I woke up and thought 'I want to own the books I thoroughly enjoyed as a child'. To that end, can some helpful Tintologists please point out which books I need to buy and where? My criteria are:
-Single volume prints of all the books considered canon (I'm not interested in the 3-in-1 editions)
-As close to a homogeneous look as possible (I like having volumes neatly lined up that match)
-No censorship (is this an issue with Tintin books?)
-I prefer softcover, but if hardcover matches the above I'll go for it
-English translations

I live in Toronto (Canada) and have no problems ordering online or if someone knows of a local store that would be fantastic. Thank you!

MrDisco

You can get almost all of the Tintin books from Amazon.com.

Tintin books are not censored in any way, but Herge was requested to fix a few things in Tintin in the Congo. (Such as a Rhinocerous getting blown up with dynamite.) I find no problem with these changes because Herge himself made them.

Most editions here in the US are softcover, and about 15X12". There are 24 books, the first two and the very last probably being the most difficult to obtain.

1.Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (written only in black and white)
2.Tintin in the Congo (Hard to get in North America. You can order used from Amazon the color UK (hardcover) edition, and you can get the original version from there, too.
3.Tintin in America (Easy to get)
4.Cigars of the Pharaoh
5.The Blue Lotus
6.The Broken Ear
7.The Black Island
8.King Ottokar's Sceptre
9.The Crab with the Golden Claws
10.The Shooting Star
11.The Secret of the Unicorn
12.Red Rackham's Treasure
13.The Seven Crystal Balls
14.Prisoners of the Sun
15.Land of Black Gold
16.Destination Moon
17.Explorers on the Moon
18.The Calculus Affair
19.The Red Sea Sharks
20.Tintin in Tibet
21.The Castafiore Emerald
22.Flight 714
23.Tintin and the Picaros
24.Tintin and Alph-art--This was only partly finished when Herge died, so it is really only a scrawly concept of a story.

Good luck assembling your collection. Mine cost me approximately $200 US, and I bought all of mine used. Don't let that scare you away though, you don't have to buy them all at once.

Hi cigars,

Thank you for the list. I have a bunch of more questions:
-Is there a difference between the softcover and hardcover editions? (aside from the cover material)?
-What is the difference between the Casterman editions and the Little Brown editions (from the '70s-'80s)?
-Which format/publisher offers the complete set of matching books?
-Can I still get the rino-blown up Congo edition?

edit: more stuff:
-I found this quote from Little, Brown: "The house was also planning to publish a boxed set containing all 24 Tintin books in November, but that project has now been postponed because Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s forthcoming Tintin movie has also been pushed to next year. "We felt it best to time the publication of the box set closer to the release of what is sure to be a spectacular film," said Chang."
Does this mean I should wait till May 08 (?) for a possible 24 volume set? Or will this be the 3-in-1 set? They also said Congo won't be included :(

etc.

Thank you!

MrDisco

-Is there a difference between the softcover and hardcover editions? (aside from the cover material)?

I don't know of any differences.

-What is the difference between the Casterman editions and the Little Brown editions (from the '70s-'80s)?

Do you mean the recent Casterman editions? Those are hardcovers with the original artwork.

-Which format/publisher offers the complete set of matching books?

Little, Brown has all except Soviets/Congo/Alph-art.
They were going to publish these this year, but controversy about Tintin in the Congo has (Apparently) caused them to not want to publish any of these. :(

-Can I still get the rino-blown up Congo edition?

You can get the French color edition from Amazon, which (as far as I know) is the Rhino-Blown-Up edition. you can also get the original black and white edition of Congo in English, which still has all of the carnage and political incorrectness it had in the beginning.

Does this mean I should wait till May 08 (?) for a possible 24 volume set? Or will this be the 3-in-1 set? They also said Congo won't be included :(


If I remember correctly, that set was going to be made up of eight 3-in-1s, so I wouldn't think it would be worth the wait. The large editions are better, anyway, because it is easier to appreciate the amazing artwork down to every last detail. (Not all agree about this. Some people like these because they are easier to take along with you.)
Good Luck!

It seems I can only get the Congo edition in hardcover :(

I believe that's true.

navarang.com is the best place to find the full set. Its all soft cover with that glossy plastic cover on it (which is what i was used to as a kid). The full set goes for $250 + $3 shipping