Tintin Facsimile - The Castafiore Emerald

Facsimiles are identical copies of the first editions of Tintin albums. The Castafiore Emerald is the first title that was not released as a new edition with a cloth spine. It was presented in a transitional format, before the current one: a varnished cover instead of a laminated one. The spine is printed on paper (in yellow) but without text. The Castafiore Emerald is an atypical album. Preferred by many Tintin enthusiasts but not by the youngest readers, it was a sort of challenge for Hergé: to create an adventure with very few external plot devices. A comedy of manners respecting the three "unities" of theater: time, place, and action. No "deus ex machina" except for a very modest magpie. Hergé's character studies, refined album after album, are subtle, coherent, and in-depth. This allowed Hergé to confront his characters in an intimate closed setting.