Tintin By Plane – 14 – The Aeroplane of Basil Bazaroff From The Broken Ear – L’Avion De Bazaroff De L’Oreille Cassée – En Avion Tintin

Author: Hergé & Editions Moulinsart
Price: £65.00
Publisher: Editions Moulinsart
Publication date: 2014
Format: Original pictorial boards with plane on plinth
Condition: In near fine condition
Illustrations: Illustrated throughout

Description:

Original pictorial boards. Text in French. Includes the accompanying model and figurine. One from the collection of 50 books and models. Very slight wear. In very near fine, clean condition overall.

Tintin in The Broken Ear: A Brief Account

The Broken Ear (L’Oreille cassée), first published in 1937, is one of the most atmospheric and politically perceptive volumes in The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé (Georges Remi). It represents a turning point in the series, where the narrative expands beyond pure adventure into moral and geopolitical commentary. Set largely in South America, the story blends mystery, satire, and ethnographic observation, showcasing Hergé’s growing artistic maturity and his interest in the darker realities of human greed and conflict.

The plot begins in Belgium, when a small museum devoted to ethnography reports the theft of a tribal Arumbaya fetish, a wooden statue distinguished by its broken ear. Tintin, intrigued by the case, discovers that the stolen object has been replaced by a clever forgery. His investigation leads him from Europe to the fictional South American republics of San Theodoros and Nuevo Rico, where he uncovers a tangled conspiracy involving murder, espionage, and a corrupt arms trade.

The fetish itself becomes the narrative’s central symbol—a relic both sacred and coveted, embodying the clash between indigenous culture and Western exploitation. It is ultimately revealed to conceal a secret connected to stolen diamonds, linking the museum theft to a global network of avarice and deceit. Through this device, Hergé crafts a story that is both detective mystery and moral fable, examining the destructive consequences of colonial greed.

The journey to South America provides the backdrop for some of Hergé’s most vivid world-building. San Theodoros and Nuevo Rico, the rival republics locked in perpetual border conflict, are thinly disguised parodies of real Latin American nations frequently destabilised by foreign interests and military coups. Hergé depicts these states with a mixture of humour and realism: flamboyant generals, staged revolutions, and cynical politicians all contribute to an atmosphere of chaos tinged with irony. The portrayal of General Alcazar, introduced here for the first time, would become a recurring motif throughout the Tintin series—a satirical emblem of power’s instability and vanity.

Thematically, The Broken Ear exposes the corruption of idealism by profit. The arms dealers Basil Bazarov and J. G. Dawson, fictionalised caricatures of international merchants of death, exploit the rivalry between the two republics for financial gain. Their duplicity—selling weapons to both sides—mirrors the moral vacuum that drives the story. Tintin’s role, as always, is that of the incorruptible observer: intelligent, fearless, and morally steadfast. He navigates a world of deceit, violence, and opportunism, remaining a beacon of integrity in an age of cynicism.

Artistically, the album demonstrates the consolidation of Hergé’s ligne claire style: clean, economical lines; precise architectural and mechanical detail; and disciplined visual composition. The artwork combines clarity with atmosphere, from the meticulous interiors of the museum to the dense jungles and riverboats of the Amazon basin. Hergé’s sense of geography and ethnographic curiosity lend authenticity to even the most fictional elements. Though based on second-hand sources—he had not yet travelled outside Europe—his visual imagination captures the rhythm and colour of a continent in turmoil.

Humour and irony play a vital role in tempering the story’s darker tone. Characters such as the blundering Colonel Alvarez and the bombastic General Tapioca (a later addition to the Tintin universe) add comic texture without undermining the serious undercurrents. Hergé balances satire and suspense with remarkable control, ensuring that the reader’s moral engagement deepens even as the pace of adventure quickens.

By its conclusion, The Broken Ear achieves a powerful equilibrium between entertainment and critique. The fetish is recovered, the mystery solved, yet the larger injustices of greed and war remain unresolved. Tintin’s victory is individual and ethical rather than systemic, underscoring Hergé’s growing awareness of the world’s complexity.

In retrospect, The Broken Ear stands as one of the first Tintin stories to weave together political realism, moral inquiry, and cinematic storytelling. It anticipates the sophistication of later works such as The Blue Lotus and The Calculus Affair, while retaining the spirit of classic adventure fiction.

Today, the album is admired not only for its gripping plot and elegant draughtsmanship but also for its sharp social insight. It captures an interwar world shaped by imperialism, commerce, and propaganda, viewed through the clear moral lens of its young hero. In every respect, The Broken Ear marks a crucial step in Hergé’s transformation from storyteller to social commentator—a work that combines intrigue, artistry, and conscience with enduring power.

Basil Bazaroff: A Brief Biography

Basil Bazaroff is a memorable and sharply drawn secondary character in The Adventures of Tintin, appearing in The Broken Ear (L’Oreille cassée, 1937). Though his role is brief, he embodies one of Hergé’s most incisive pieces of social and political satire: a critique of the international arms trade and the moral corruption that fuels war for profit.

Character Overview

Basil Bazaroff is portrayed as a cosmopolitan arms dealer, smooth, persuasive, and utterly amoral. He operates on behalf of Korrupt Arms Ltd, a fictional weapons manufacturer that sells munitions to unstable South American republics — in this case, the rival nations of San Theodoros and Nuevo Rico. Hergé’s depiction of Bazaroff is both humorous and chilling: he appears as an elegantly dressed businessman, urbane and outwardly civilised, yet entirely devoid of scruples. His charm and courtesy conceal a profession built upon exploitation, manipulation, and death.

Real-Life Inspiration

Basil Bazaroff is a thinly disguised caricature of Sir Basil Zaharoff (1849–1936), a real historical figure who became infamous in the early 20th century as one of the world’s most powerful arms merchants. Zaharoff was associated with the Vickers armaments empire and reputedly supplied weapons to both sides in several international conflicts. He was widely portrayed in contemporary press as the archetypal “merchant of death” — wealthy, secretive, and morally ambiguous. Hergé’s version borrows this real-world notoriety but exaggerates it with comic precision, making the character a symbol of the hypocrisy and greed that drive modern warfare.

Role in The Broken Ear

Within the narrative, Bazaroff travels through South America selling identical weapons to both warring countries, playing each against the other for profit. He is the perfect embodiment of war as business. In one of Hergé’s most biting sequences, Bazaroff delivers passionate sales pitches to the generals of San Theodoros and Nuevo Rico in turn — promising each side absolute victory with the latest aircraft, artillery, and tanks. Both leaders, impressed by his rhetoric, sign enormous contracts, oblivious to the fact that their enemy is buying the same equipment from the same man.

This cycle of manipulation, greed, and self-deception becomes one of the story’s central ironies. The ensuing war, fought with weapons supplied by Bazaroff, achieves nothing except devastation and personal enrichment for those profiting from it. Hergé’s satire is particularly striking given the time of publication: Europe in the late 1930s was sliding toward another global conflict, and The Broken Ear reads as both a moral warning and a prescient commentary on the collusion between commerce and militarism.

Symbolism and Themes

Bazaroff’s significance extends beyond his narrative function. He represents the moral vacuum at the heart of modern politics and industry, where human lives are secondary to economic interests. Through him, Hergé moves away from the simple adventure structure of earlier Tintin albums towards a more mature exploration of corruption, propaganda, and the commodification of conflict.

His suave manners and impeccable attire underline the paradox of civilised evil — the idea that immense cruelty can coexist with culture, wealth, and respectability. The name “Bazaroff” itself is a clever linguistic construction, combining echoes of “bazaar” (a marketplace) and “Bazarov,” the nihilistic anti-hero from Ivan Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons — thus linking commerce, cynicism, and destruction in a single word.

Artistic and Narrative Treatment

Visually, Hergé draws Bazaroff with refined detail: a man in a tailored suit, perfectly groomed, always smiling — the image of corporate confidence. Yet his body language and dialogue carry an undertone of menace. Hergé’s clear-line artwork enhances this duality, presenting evil not as grotesque but as ordinary and respectable, a theme that would recur throughout his later, more psychologically complex stories.

The scenes featuring Bazaroff are framed with brisk, cinematic clarity: neat office interiors, military parades, and contract signings presented as almost farcical theatre. The precision of these settings, combined with the comic absurdity of the generals’ gullibility, gives the satire its edge.

Legacy

Although Basil Bazaroff appears in only a few pages, his presence casts a long shadow over The Broken Ear and indeed over Hergé’s entire oeuvre. He is one of the first Tintin characters to represent systemic evil — wrongdoing not born of personal malice but of indifference, greed, and bureaucratic self-interest. In this respect, Bazaroff foreshadows later Tintin antagonists such as Rastapopoulos and Dr Müller, who also embody corruption dressed in modern respectability.

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Cataloguer: Daniel Hornsey

Daniel Hornsey has specialised in fine and rare books, ephemera, and collectors’ editions for over thirty years. As a long-standing member of the antiquarian book trade, he has advised private collectors, curated catalogues, and sourced works for leading dealers, libraries and institutions across the world.

Hornseys’ exhibit regularly at book and map fairs in London and throughout the UK and are members of the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association, the PBFA.

His fascination with Hergé’s work — especially ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ — began in childhood. Daniel recalls reading Tintin in original European editions and quickly recognising that these were not merely children’s books, but finely illustrated narratives crafted with artistic depth and wit.

As noted by the Musée Hergé in Louvain-la-Neuve, Hergé’s ‘ligne claire’ style has influenced generations of European comic artists and his original drawings and paintings command very high prices with his painting of ‘The Blue Lotus’ jar fetching £2.8m at auction in 2021.

By presenting these works through Hornseys’, he hopes to contribute to the continued appreciation of one of the 20th century’s most influential illustrators, helping new generations discover the artistry and legacy of Hergé.