Tintin Forums

I read from this thread that the old Tintin editions have blurbs. I'm quite curious about them, so I'd like to start a new topic on old blurbs. Hopefully I may be able to collect as much information on them as possible.

What do you mean by "blurb" in the first place ?

A blurb is a short piece of text usually found on the back of books, videos, dvds, etc., with the express purpose of giving a short summary of the work and selling it to the reader.

Blurbs appeared on the back of early editions of the Tintin books (the one's which have the picture of the strange little island with the notice board). For instance, here's what is written on the back of Crab With The Golden Claws

"A series of mysterious clues put Tintin and Snowy on the trail of a dangerous gang of opium-smugglers. Tintin is kidnapped, but in a daring escape at sea he meets the brave Captain Haddock, and together they track down the gang in a chase which takes them from the burning Sahara desert to the alleys of a Moroccan port. So Tintin solves another baffling problem."

I think that those are rather unnecessary. The fun of reading a Tintin adventure for the first time (not that I'll ever have that chance again) is to read it and see what happens for yourself.