moulinsart - De sigaren van de farao

moulinsart De sigaren van de farao

in Dutch

This edition of The Cigars of the Faraoh is a very special volume - and here is its history.

The colour editions of Tintin's adventures known so well to readers began to appear in 1942. On account of wartime paper rationing and the introduction of new printing methods, Hergé accepted on the insistence of Charles Lesne, his editor at publishers Casterman, that The Adventures of Tintin would be in future published at a limited number of pages, but in colour.

So that year a contract was signed between Hergé and Casterman for "publication of the series of books of The Adventures of Tintin... that have appeared or will appear... and of which he is the author under the pseudonym HERGÉ". The books were all reduced to a standard length of 62 pages.

This particular volume is based on the original black and white version published in 1932, so ten years before the agreement with Casterman.

Coloured with regard to the black and white flats that disappeared with the future colour editions, it runs to 120 pages, so is almost double the length of the version that appeared following the accord with Casterman.

Moulinsart is engaged in the colourisation of the first nine black and white adventures. Casterman was associated with the publication of the first of these, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, but is not involved in publishing the subsequent titles.

Readers will find in this adaptation a story full of contrasts, sometimes burlesque humour and certain adventure. This return to the original source reveals the consolidation of Hergé's talent which was to see its first peak with Cigars of the Pharaoh.