Pratt, Hugo - 1 Original page - Corto Maltese - La Jeunesse de Corto Maltese - 1981

Where did you steal that officer's jacket from the Japanese Imperial Army?

Without a doubt, all collectors of original drawings would be very proud to honorably display in their library a 'Strip' or an 'Original Board' from this remarkable album drawn by Hugo Pratt in 1981: 'The Youth of Corto Maltese'.

Since the original drawings of this album are rare on the market, very few collectors have realized the impressive size of these strips, each panel measuring 15 cm by 15 cm and thus over 45 cm by 15 cm for an entire strip, making framing very spectacular.

This album is very well known both in Italy and in the Francophone world for the following reasons:

- Pre-publication by individual strips in 1982 in Italy (review L’internauta: La Gionivezza) and in France in 1981 (Le Matin de Paris) and 1982 (A Suivre, Casterman).

Numerous publications in albums and reissues, both black and white and color, including illustrations found on the internet, are presented as documentation in this lot.

An exceptional meeting of Corto Maltese, Raspoutine, and Jack London to form a mythical trio in the entire history of European comics, exclusively in this Album.

This strip is quite evocative of the famous Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and, above all, of the ambivalent atmosphere at the end of the war, which begins right from the first panel of this story, with Rasputin killing a Japanese soldier as the war's end is announced, and which will serve as the framework for the entire narrative...

Hugo Pratt had the intelligence to blend fictional characters, like Corto Maltese, with others more grounded in reality, such as Jack London, the American, and the Russian Raspoutine.

The large-format strip, with original Italian texts written by Pratt in pencil, with non-erased writing, which is a 'little miracle,' as this strip has been published several times in French across different books (see illustrations of the successive publication details).

This very decorative lot is highly attractive to an Italian or French collector. It will have the greatest effect when it is given a very beautiful framing that will enhance the prestige of a large collection.

Guaranteed 100% Authentic by Bernard Soetens, an international expert on Hergé among others, and publisher for 25 years of the 'Catalogue Scriptura' for the sale of comic strips and original drawings in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, this remarkable strip by Hugo Pratt is an opportunity to enhance a collection of high-quality original drawings.

Exceptional title, no reserve price.

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