Special Ltd Ed Cigarette Pack Tintin ‘The Calculus Affair'

Special Ltd Edition Cigarette Pack of ‘The Calculus Affair’ - Tintin Album
Life Size cigarette Pack : 8,5 x 8,5 x 2cm - MINT Condition - Scarce Collector’s item!

The Calculus Affair (French: L'Affaire Tournesol) is the eighteenth volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by the Belgian cartoonist Hergé. It was serialised weekly in Belgium's Tintin magazine from December 1954 to February 1956 before being published in a single volume by Casterman in 1956. The story follows the attempts of the young reporter Tintin, his dog Snowy, and his friend Captain Haddock to rescue their friend Professor Calculus, who has developed a machine capable of destroying objects with sound waves, from kidnapping attempts by the competing European countries of Borduria and Syldavia.

‘....During a thunderstorm, glass and porcelain items at Marlinspike Hall shatter inexplicably. Insurance salesman Jolyon Wagg arrives at the house to take shelter, annoying Captain Haddock. Gunshots are heard in the Hall's grounds, and Tintin and Haddock discover a wounded man with a foreign accent who soon disappears. The next morning, Professor Calculus leaves for Geneva to attend a conference on nuclear physics. Tintin and Haddock use the opportunity to investigate Calculus' laboratory, discovering that his experiments were responsible for the glass-shattering of the previous night. While exploring, they are attacked by a stranger, who then escapes. While escaping, Snowy rips the stranger's coat only for a cigarette packet* to fall off. On the packet, the name of "Hotel Cornavin, Geneva"* where Calculus stays was written on it. Tintin feared that Calculus is in danger. Tintin, Haddock, and Snowy head for Geneva. In Geneva, they learn that Calculus has gone to Nyon to meet Professor Topolino, an expert in ultrasonics. The group travel there in a taxi, but their car is attacked by two men in another car, who force the taxi into Lake Geneva. Surviving the attack, Tintin, Haddock and Snowy continue to Nyon, where they find Topolino bound and gagged in his cellar. As Tintin questions the professor, the house blows up, but they all survive…..’

• The Cigarette Packet has the name of ‘МАЗЕDОНИА’ on it. Sounds like ‘Macedonia’, but in correct russian is ‘МАКЕДОНИЯ’.
• The room at the Cornavin Hotel in which Calculus stays (Room 122, fourth floor) did not exist. The hotel management later sent Hergé a letter explaining that it was not possible to stay in the Professor's room. In response to the number of letters received addressed to Professor Calculus, the hotel management later put up a plaque for room 122.