Tintin Forums

I collect Tintin books and was sorting through them today when found some French ones that seem to be first editions. I don't believe they can be, but on the first page the dates are as follows:

Les 7 Boules de Crystal, Casterman 1948
On a Marché sur la Lune, Casterman 1954, and
L'affaire Tournesol, copyright 1956 by Casterman.

I looked on the internet and these seem to be the dates that they were first published. Is there any other way to tell how old they are?

Also, can anyone tell me how much they might be worth?

I don't think they can be first editions because these particular ones were given to me by my grandparents and they were given to me as simply French Tintin books, not first editions.
Thanks.

The copyright date in the front of a book is generally the date in which it was first published. It doesn't usually get updated to the year in which any particular 2nd, 3rd, 4th, umpteenth edition is published in subsequent years or decades (unless the new edition is a completely reworked or rewritten version or a translated version, ie: pretty much a different book).

That's not to say that rules out your books being first editions; just that a copyright date matching the year of first publication doesn't in itself indicate whether a book is.

My knowledge on how you do identify a Tintin book first edition, or how you identify which edition you've got, is zilch, I'm afraid. But other people on the forums may be able to point you towards details which may help you to pin your books down.

The only thing I do know is that if the other Tintin books listed on the back cover includes titles that come after the book you've got (eg: Coke en Stock listed on the back of Les 7 Boules de Crystal) then it can't be a first edition!

To Balthazar’s clue about whether the books are original by the other titles shown, you can add that the backs should show the picture of the bill-board on an island, surrounded by characters and souvenirs of Tintin’s adventures. If any of them have the little cover pictures of the other albums, then they date from the seventies or later.

Another quick check is what sort of spine to they have? If they have cardboard spines with the book’s name written on it, they are later editions.

Bear in mind too that these are all just indicators - they can be used to identify the books as not being first editions, but can’t guarantee that they are first editions (for example, there are facsimiles).

I had my old Softback Methuen Prisoners of the Sun book out as I was looking at it for another post on this forum. I have checked the dates and it mentions the artwork dates from 1949, The English text dates from 1962, the book was first published in 1962 and then it mentions all the reprints. It was reprinted in 1973 and then again in 1975 which is the year that as a kid I bought the book or it was bought for me. So it looks like in the 1970's Methuen did mention the dates of the reprints.

I didn't quite understand what Balthazar meant. I'm not sure whether Balthazar meant that the French books didn't add any reprint dates.