The Little Prince
novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943)
The Little Prince (French: Le Petit Prince, pronounced [lə p(ə)ti pʁãs]) is a novella written and illustrated by French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 and was published posthumously in France following liberation; Saint-Exupéry's works had been banned by the Vichy Regime. The story follows a young prince who visits various planets, including Earth, and addresses themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss. Despite its style as a children's book, The Little Prince makes observations about life, adults, and human nature.
The Little Prince became Saint-Exupéry's most successful work, selling an estimated 140 million copies worldwide, which makes it one of the best-selling in history.
By November 2024, the book had been translated into 600 different languages and dialects worldwide. It became the second most translated work ever published, trailing only the Bible. The Little Prince has been adapted to numerous art forms and media, including audio recordings, radio plays, live stage, film, television, ballet, and opera.
Plot
The book begins with the narrator reflecting back on the first drawing he made as a six-year-old of a boa constrictor who had eaten an elephant. Upon showing the picture to grown-ups, he was prompted to create his second drawing of the inside of the boa constrictor to prove the first drawing was not a hat.
The public source identifies “The Little Prince” as novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Little, Prince and novel.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Little Prince”, the useful work is to connect “novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q25338. VIAF identifies the subject as 186349021. The Library of Congress control number is n87116210. 1 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1943 and 2024.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Little Prince” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.