• Original Art: Manuscript of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Wind, Sand and Stars
• Era: 1939
• Region: France

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944) was a French writer and journalist who also found fame as an aviator and all-around adventurer. He was born into an aristocratic family and as a young man learned to fly in the military.

At 21, Saint-Exupéry became a commercial pilot and spent many years delivering airmail in Europe, Africa and South America. During World War II, Saint-Exupéry joined the French Air Force (Armée de l’Air) and flew reconnaissance missions until armistice with Germany was reached in 1940. At that point, he went into a self-imposed exile in North America, where he petitioned the American government to enter the war against Nazi Germany. After a short stay in North America, Saint-Exupéry joined the Free French Air Force in North Africa and resumed fighting in the war. In 1944, he disappeared under mysterious circumstances during a mission to collect intelligence on German troops in the Rhone Valley. As a highly accomplished pilot, Saint-Exupéry’s disappearance was a shocking surprise.

After his death, France designated him as a national hero and for decades the country conducted searches for signs of wreckage. Speculation on his fate continued until 2004, when the French Air Force confirmed that the remnants of a crash off the coast of Marseille were from Saint- Exupéry’s aircraft.

Although he was well-known in his day as an explorer, he is most strongly remembered as the author of The Little Prince – Exupéry’s much beloved, self-illustrated tale of the meeting between a stranded pilot and an asteroid-born prince. Known for its poetic elegance, The Little Prince has since been translated into over 250 languages worldwide.

While The Little Prince is his most famous story, the majority of his written works focus more on his personal experiences as one of the leading pilots of his age. Shown on the cover of this Embellished Manuscript is a page from the original 1939 manuscript for Wind, Sand and Stars – known in French as Terre des hommes. This classic in aviation adventure tales is a true window into the soul of this great adventurer.