Culture

Lello exhibits Saint-Exupéry’s bracelet to mark the 80 years of “The Little Prince”

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Livraria Lello and The Antoine de Saint Exupéry Youth Foundation gathered to celebrate the 80 years of the launch of “The Little Prince”, with the display of the author’s silver bracelet, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, found in 1998, in the Mediterranean.

The object is on display, in the city for the first time, inserted in the show “Entre o Céu e o Mar”, inaugurated on Wednesday, until the afternoon, in the facilities of the bookstore, in Porto. The moment was also used to launch a commemorative edition of the 80th anniversary of its publication, partnering with the same foundation.

Filipe Araújo, vice-mayor of the Porto City Hall, participated in the inauguration and highlighted the importance of the partnership between the bookstore and the Antoine de Saint Exupéry Foundation to the life of the city.

“This is a fortunate partnership. A partnership that, as I have emphasized before, the city of Porto will benefit from, whether it be in its cultural dynamic, in its international assertion, or in its touristic appeal.”, he mentioned.

The politician seized the moment to praise the business model that the centenarian bookstore was able to implement and that “allowed the preservation of heritage wealth and, at the same time, resurrect its bookselling and cultural activities”.

Besides the Lello’s management team, Thomas Rivière, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s grandson, head of the Exupéry Foundation, was also present, as well as the actors Pedro Granger and and Renato Godinho to read some passages from “The Little Prince”.

Saint-Exupéry’s bracelet

In 1944, Saint-Exupéry participated in an aerial reconnaissance mission, crashing on the coast of Marseille, in the south of France.

On September 7th 1998, the fishermen Habib Benamor and Jean-Claude Bianco found a shiny object off the coast of Marseille. It was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s bracelet, offered to him by his wife, Consuelo, in 1942, when in New York. In its inscription one can read “Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Consuelo) c/o Reynal and Hitchcock 386 4th Ave N.Y.C U.S.A” his editor’s address in New York.

The object will be on display in the Little Prince Theme Room, a space in Livraria Lello entirely dedicated to this class, that fascinates generations from all over the world.