Le bonhomme

I've always loved the children's story The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and was distraught to read a while ago about the many faults in the most common Katherine Woods translation. I have since read that, although not perfect, the now less common Woods version which I read, has been replaced with a much worse and more wooden literal translation. It is difficult to know what to believe, and I wondered if I might be able to read the French original.

Then, last week, I wrote about the lovely package I received from Paris, and lo and behold, the other book was indeed Le Petit Prince. Of course, I was delighted to now be able to read this charming little book in its original language and improve my French, but what made me even happier was the beautiful packaging and cover of the edition.

Whoever said not to judge a book by its cover was wrong, at least in the literal sense - I won't deny the metaphorical truth in this saying. But many of my very favourite books are those with aesthetically pleasing covers. This may sound odd (but who cares, you already knew that I was odd!) but having an interesting, unique design seems to make books just that much more enjoyable.