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There is a new cloth-bound edition of all of the Tintin adventures, produced by Moulinsart, under the title Les Archives Tintin and - at the moment at least - only available by mail order in selected regions of France (distributed by Atlas Editions).

The first volume, Le Lotus Bleu, has just been published.

It comprises the comic book along with around 62 pp. of extra material, some of it drawn from the text of the long-awaited Guide Hergé by Jean-Marie Embs and Philippe Mellot (which was to have been published in two large volumes).

Hello.
I have seen a few 'Les Archives de Tintin' books for sale on eBay mainly in France. The books are in the French language and published by Moulinsart. They look to be hardback back books and each book is dedicated to one Tintin story. So for instance there is a volume all about Tintin au Tibet and another volume all about L'ile Noire.

I just wondered if anybody had any further information about these books? I would like to find out information such as the dates they were published, how big the books are and what do they actually contain. So far I have just seen covers as the books on eBay do not have photographs of any internal pages. Any information would be gratefully received.

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The Tidy Tintinologist Team

Here are links to pages on the official site which include pictures of the internal pages: Blue Lotus, Tibet, Broken Ear and Black Island.

According to their own forum, they have covered most of the Tintin books, from "America" to "Picaros", and should be releasing "Ottokar", "Shooting Star" and "Soviets" soon. I believe "Alph Art" will also be covered.

According to this summary of the series, contributors include leading Tintinologist Philippe Goddin who, as head of the Herge Foundation, had access to the archives containing Herge's research and other material.

By the looks of it, I'd say that they are very similar to Farr's "Companion" or Peeters' "World of Hergé", but dealing with it on a book-to-book basis and thus containing even more details and more comparissons of Herge's source material and his illustrations: for instance, in "Black Island", they compare the scenes of Robert Donat handcuffed to Madeleine Carroll in Hitchcock's "Thirty-Nine Steps" to the Thompsons' situation in the book. (I'd always realised the pursuit-to-Scotland link to "39 Steps" but not that bit I admit.)

The books include articles detailing the development of main characters such as Haddock and Calculus but also supporting characters such as Muganga, the witch-doctor in "Congo" or Abdul, one of Muller's men in "Black Gold". They also dwell on the context of the times when the stories were published and Herge's research. There are examples of his sketches as he planned the stories and details about his other work, such as "Quick and Flupke" and "Jo et Zette".

This is interesting: leaf through the Broken Ear pages and you'll find an illustration of Tintin in his armchair in his flat gasping as Ramon's dagger goes towards him. Never seen that one before. I assume it was from the original publication in the "Petit Vingtieme". The writers also note how from absolute darkness, Tintin, without leaving his armchair, somehow restores the light to see the dagger next to him - and no apparent sign of a lamp or anything.

They do look to be a good addition to a collection; unfortunately you have to have an address in France or Belgium to participate (leastways you did when they first came out, it may have changed: I tried to order back then, and it couldn’t complete the transaction; nor could you order them through Atlas’s regional offices in other countries…).

I have to say, they look absolutely fantastic. They are like even more indepth versions of Michael Farr's Tintin: The Complete Companion (if such a thing is possible). There is only one small problem: every single one is in French. Drat (for want of a better word). I was born in the wrong country.

And the way the single currency is going, the Eurocrats will probably have to ditch their plans for a single language.

Thanks for those links and the information mct16

I have just recently got Blue Lotus and Tibet from eBay. it turns out these two are cheaper after being published for three years, but all the other titles are still expensive; that's what stopping to me collecting the other ones.

They are really very good books for collection. I really wish they will be translated to English, maybe someday :)