The collection

Antoine de Saint Exupéry was born in Lyon on June 29, 1900. His life began almost like a novel: as a young boy, he grew up partly in a castle—Saint-Maurice-de-Rémens—together with his siblings and his mother, to whom he had a very close bond.

At the age of twelve, he flies for the first time—as a passenger, of course. But this moment leaves a lasting impression on him. The dream of flying never leaves him. And that is exactly what later becomes his profession, his calling, his destiny.

But Saint Exupéry was not only an adventurer, he was also a writer and a sensitive intellectual. His books—Night Flight, Wind, Sand and Stars, Flight to Arras—are full of philosophy, poetry, and humanism. He wanted to understand the world better—and improve it.

The Little Prince was written in 1942 while Saint-Exupéry was in exile in the United States, in a small house on Long Island. He was there because France was occupied by the Nazis. The Little Prince is his “fairy tale for children,” as he himself said—but in reality it is a poetic protest against the senselessness, coldness, and arrogance of the adult world.

On July 31, 1944, Saint Exupéry took off on a reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean—and never returned. For decades, his fate remained a mystery. It was not until the 1990s that his dog tag was fished out of the sea. Later, parts of his plane's wreckage were also found.

What remains is his work. And above all: his little prince. A character who reminds us all of what really matters in life. Friendship, responsibility, curiosity—and wonder at the world. Saint Exupéry was no saint. He was human—courageous, contradictory, melancholic, idealistic. And that is precisely why his legacy lives on to this day.