A rare carbon typescript of “Le Petit Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, with several handwritten changes by the author, is being offered for sale. It is the first time a typescript of the beloved tale has been offered for sale to the general public and is one of just three known copies.

The famous quote, “On ne voit bien qu’avec le coeur,” is said to have been inscribed for the first time in this artifact. The phrase “l’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux” means “one can only see correctly with the heart.” The fundamental is not evident to the naked eye.

According to Sammy Jay, senior literature expert at London-based book dealer Peter Harrington, Saint-Exupéry had been “toying with and turning this phrase back and forward in his head” in previous versions. “You can actually watch the author make that breakthrough and write that full sentence for the first time” in the script.

The $1.25 million typescript will be on display during Abu Dhabi Art, an annual art event that takes place at the end of November.

First published as ‘The Little Prince’ in 1943 in both French and English in the United States, ‘Le Petit Prince’ was repeated in France in 1946. It is unique among religious writings in that it is the most translated book in the world.

The narrative centers on a pilot who meets the little prince, a youngster from a far-off world who only has a rose for a friend. While living in exile in New York during the French occupation, Saint-Exupéry penned the story.

Two loose original pencil drawings of the young prince, including a draft of the book’s final picture of the prince going home, and a signed check from Saint-Exupéry are included with the volume.

The typescript was purchased by Peter Harrington from a privately held collection of Saint-Exupéry-related items. The typescript is “a really evocative object,” according to Jay, despite its unassuming look. It is kept in a plain black card folder that is “wonderfully makeshift,” with no inscriptions on the cover and few staples holding it together. The pages of the folder are “rather endearingly” dotted with drawings, notes, and doodling.

The Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris is home to one of the two carbon copies, while the other is kept in the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas. The only version that Saint-Exupéry seems to have retained as his working copy is the one that is for sale.

“In an effort to polish and finalize the text, he has filled the typewritten text with his own handwritten annotations, corrections, and additions,” Jay says. The majority of the pages include hand adjustments, such as the substitution of more general images for allusions to New York.

According to Jay, the collector probably put the $100 check that was part of the box in the folder. According to author Stacy Schiff, it was written on February 26, 1943, and was made out to “Brooks Uniform Co.” for an “approximation of a French air force uniform” that he had ordered.

On his last visit to Silvia Hamilton’s apartment before departing for the war, Saint-Exupéry donned the uniform. He left her the original handwritten manuscript of “Le Petit Prince,” which is now kept at the Morgan Library in New York, during that visit. He left the United States in April 1943 and is said to have passed away in July 1944 while on a reconnaissance operation.