- ^ Note that although Saint-Exupéry's regular French publisher, Gallimard, lists Le Petit Prince as being published in 1946, that is apparently a legalistic interpretation possibly designed to allow for an extra year of the novella's copyright protection period, and is based on Gallimard's explanation that the book was only 'sold' starting in 1946. Other sources, such as LePetitPrince.com,[8] record the first Librairie Gallimard printing of 12,250 copies as occurring on 30 November 1945.
- ^ The Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Foundation estimates an additional 80 million copies of the story in audio-video formats have been sold worldwide.[13]
- ^ The plane Saint-Exupéry was flying when he crashed at high speed in the Sahara was a Caudron C-630 Simoun, Serial Number 7042, with the French registration F-ANRY ('F' being the international designator for France, and the remainder chosen by the author to represent ANtoine de saint-exupéRY).
- ^ According to Hoffman, "Anne Morrow Lindbergh's fascination with Saint-Ex was transparent in all she wrote about him, as might be expected when one aviator-writer romantic is writing about another." Saint-Exupéry visited with Anne for two days but spoke with Charles Lindbergh, who arrived home late, for an hour. Besides their vast differences on how Adolf Hitler and the European conflict should be treated, Charles did not speak French, and Saint-Exupéry did not speak English well. Their discussions, passed through Anne's meager French, were somewhat muted. However, the excited conversation between Antoine and Anne soon blossomed "like monster flowers", with each finishing the other's sentences. Ironically, while Saint-Exupéry would later campaign for an early US entry into the war, Lindbergh strongly opposed American involvement in the European war and wanted an arrangement with Hitler, like Stalin's. The meeting between the two future P-38 war pilots was termed "less than a rousing success". Moreover, Charles later became unhappy about his wife's vast esteem for the French adventurer."
- ^ Another source states that it was co-publisher Curtice Hitchcock who viewed the author sketches and doodles at a supper party one evening and then suggested writing a children's book to Saint-Exupéry.[56] An additional likely reason for the publisher's encouragement: P. L. Travers, the author of the popular children's books series on Mary Poppins, was at that time working on her third installment that would be published by a Reynal & Hitchcock competitor in 1943, the same year as The Little Prince. Saint-Exupéry's U.S. publisher pressed him to have a competing children's book on the market for Christmas 1942.
- ^ Saint-Exupéry was 43 the year the fable was published, and 44 the year he died. He originally wrote the story with 43 sunsets, but posthumous editions often quote '44 sunsets', possibly in tribute.
- ^ On one of Saint-Exupéry's flights his aircraft engine started failing. His aircraft mechanic onboard later recalled that Saint-Exupéry was completely calm, "Saint-Ex simply started doodling cartoons which he handed back to me with a big grin."[24]
- ^ Following one of his crashes in a sophisticated single-pilot spy aircraft that resulted in him being grounded, Saint-Exupéry spared no effort in his campaign to return to active combat flying duty. He utilized all his contacts and powers of persuasion to overcome his age and physical handicap barriers, which would have completely barred an ordinary patriot from serving as a war pilot. Instrumental in his reinstatement was an agreement he proposed to John Phillips, a fluently bilingual Life Magazine correspondent in February 1944, where Saint-Exupéry committed to "write, and I'll donate what I do to you, for your publication, if you get me reinstated into my squadron."[76] Phillips later met with a high-level U.S. Army Air Forces press officer in Italy, Colonel John Reagan McCrary, who conveyed the Life Magazine request to General Eaker. Eaker's approval for Saint-Exupéry's return to flying status would be made "not through favoritism, but through exception." The brutalized French, it was noted, would cut a German's throat "probably with more relish than anybody."
- ^ Various sources state that his final flight was either his seventh, eight, ninth, or even his tenth covert reconnaissance mission. He volunteered for almost every such proposed mission submitted to his squadron, and protested fiercely after being grounded following his second sortie which ended with a demolished P-38. His connections in high places, plus a publishing agreement with Life Magazine, were instrumental in having the grounding order against him lifted.[77] For some time Saint-Exupéry's friends, colleagues, and compatriots were actively working to keep the aging, accident-prone author grounded, out of harm's way.
- ^ In 2009, the director of the Village Petite France (Little France Village) in South Korea stated that there were 350 different editions of Orin Wanja (The Little Prince) in Korean, including editions in Manga.[94]
- ^ A further complication occurred due to Saint-Exupéry's opinions of French General Charles de Gaulle, whom he held in low regard. Even though both men were working to free France from Nazi occupation, Saint-Exupéry saw de Gaulle with apprehension and consequently provided no public support to the General. In response, de Gaulle struck back at the author by implying that the author was a German supporter, and then had all his literary works banned in France's North African colonies. Saint-Exupéry's writings were, with irony, banned simultaneously in both occupied France and Free France.[98][74]
- ^ Although Macaulay Culkin had been earning approximately $8 million per film project at that point, he provided his narration to the museum "for nothing, and we are grateful for his services", according to a Morgan representative.[129]
- ^ The d'Gay portion of the estate refers to Saint-Exupéry's married sister.
- ^ Orson Welles purchased the movie rights to the story the day after reading the novella in a single sitting.[61] Welles was unable to persuade Walt Disney to assist him in turning his screenplay of the story into a film, with Disney fearing such a screen release would upstage his own screen adaptations of other stories.
- ^ The signed copy is inscribed "For Stephen, to whom I have already spoken about The Little Prince, and who perhaps will be his friend".[58]
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