The Brussels auction-house Huberty & Breyne have announced that their forthcoming sale of BD art, albums and memorabilia on Saturday the 17th of June, 2023, will have as one of its star lots Hergé's original artwork for the cover of the third adventure of Jo, Zette & Jocko,
The Valley of the Cobras.
Under the title
Jo et Zette au pays du Maharadjah (
Jo and Zette in the land of the Maharajah), the story had started to appear in the French Catholic weekly magazine
Cœurs Vaillants in 1939, but only twenty pages were completed before the war brought publication to a halt.
Due to the heavy work-schedule of creating new
Tintin adventures while also managing the release of his existing books in new colour editions, the post war years were busy, and it was not until 1953 that work restarted on what was now to be called
La Vallée des Cobras (
The Valley of the Cobras), with Hergé being assisted by Bob De Moor to produce this new adveture, which appeared in
Tintin magazine from December 1953 for 52 weeks.
To emphasize how busy the studios were, the first epsiode of
Valley of the Cobras debuted in the same December issue that brought Tintin's
Moon adventures to a close; the last episode of
Cobras appeared a year later, in the same issue in which Tintin became embroiled in
The Calculus Affair. The same year also saw the preparation and publication of
On a marché sur la Lune (
Explorers on the Moon) in book form.
Work on The Calculus Affair and preparation for The Red Sea Sharks followed, and it was not until 1957 that
The Valley of the Cobras was collected as an album
Made for that Casterman edition of 1957, Hergé created the image in india-ink on paper, measuring 41.2 cm x 30 cm.
The item comes with a certificate of authenticity issued by the Fondation Hergé.
The lots in the sale, including the cover, will be on display to the public in Paris, at 19-21 rue Chapon, from the 8th to the 10th of June, and in Brussels, at 33 Place du Chatelain, from the 15th to the 17th of June.
You can
download the auction catalogue here.