A water colour original used in the most famous French children's book "Le Petit Prince" will be auctioned in Paris next weekend. It shows the Turkish astronomer who discovered the Prince's planet explaining how he made the discovery. But the interesting point is that the Turk is wearing western European dress rather than indigenous garb. Antoine de Saint Exupery, the author, said the real astronomer on whom he based the illustration had been ignored when presenting his discovery of asteroid B612 because he was wearing eastern clothes, ignoring his expertise because of racial prejudice. The illustration is expected to make about 300000 euros.
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