Figure 1.--This Signe de Piste book was apparently about a young prince. The illustrations of these books frequently had incongrous elements, such as the prince's boxing gloves while rifles are being shot. I am not sure who the illustrator was.
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Figure 1.--This Signe de Piste book was apparently about a young prince. The illustrations of these books frequently had incongrous elements, such as the prince's boxing gloves while rifles are being shot. I am not sure who the illustrator was. |
Signe de Piste was a series of rollicking boys' adventures. They are a collection of
books written mostly for boys. The books usually portray young boys (between 12
and 16 years) and very often Boy Scouts in all kinds of exciting adventures. As they
are written in French, we know little about them. The cover's always have exciting
illustrations by various French artists. Pierre Joubert did many of them. The covers
suggest that there were many school series or a variety of fictional adventure stories.
Hopefully our French readers can provide us more information about Signe de Piste
books they read and enjoyed as boys. Some of the illustrations have realistic
depictions of clothing. Others are highly romanticized, perhaps drawn to appeal to a
French boy's spirit of adventure. I think an American boy looking at them may have
judged a few to be a little on the "wild" side.
The Signe de Piste books a series of rollicking boys' adventures. They are a
collection of books written mostly for boys. The books usually portray young boys
(between 12 and 16 years) and very often Boy Scouts in all kinds of exciting
adventures. As they are written in French, we know little about them. The covers,
however, suggest, very exciting adventures. There were many fictional adventure
stories with exotic settings in far away countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Asia, and
the Pacific Islands in the Pacific. Some were set around historical events, especially
World War I and II and their aftermath. Some stories tend toward science fiction side
or historical. There were also were some school stories, but this does not appear to
have been as important a genre as in England.
The covers suggest that there were many school stories. There also appear to be a
variety of Scout or Scout-like stories.
The Signe de Piste books were mostly for boys, but a French HBC reader tells us
that many girls also read them. She says, "The stories enticed teenagers with
adventurous minds." [Lafrance] Pierre Joubert and other illustrators with their
action-packed cover illustrations probably attracted the attention of many boys. It
should be stressed that Signe de piste did not just attract French boys. Some stories
came from Germany and many French stories where translated in a German version of
Signe de Piste. Curiously they were not read by many American and English boys.
I'm not sure, however, to what extent the publisher actually tried to enter the
English-language market.
Most of the books I have seen are about boys and their exciting adventures. I
have not noted girls sharing in these adventures like, for example, the British "Secret
Seven". We do note that a French reader tells us that some girls did enjoy the series
so perhaps there were books which included girls in the plot lines. Perhaps the boys
were involved in rescuing damsels in distress, but there appear to be relatively few
shared adventures. There were, however, some such books. A French reader tells us
that girls did indeed share the adventures or were the heroes in a fe <<<< A French reader informs us that "Signe de piste" is the name of the publishing firm
which edit the books. The name of the company, "Signe de piste," is derived from a
mark on the ground or on a tree when scouts play a big outdoor game in a forest or
natural area. In English we would say something like trail blazing signs or trail signs. A
"signe de piste" is an indication meaning "go" or "stop" or "left" or "right" or "look for a
hidden message" etc.
Signe de Piste was founded in Paris by a group of authors in 1936. Serge Dalens
and Jean-Louis Foncine played an especially important role. Illustrator Pierre Joubert
also played an important role and drew many of the early covers. The German World
War II occupation disrupted publication. The Signe de piste books were
most popular in post-World War II France, especially the 1950s and 60s. New series
were launched after 1956 such as the Enquêtes du Chat-Tigre (Investigations of the
Tiger-cat), under the pseudonym of Mik Fondal. The Signe series of Track Junior,
intended for young people, and of the Rubans Noir (Black Rubans) series, intended for
the older ones, was launched in 1957. A Super Signe de Piste, i.e. de luxe edition
was printed in 1958. One estimate in 1969 indicated that the Junior series had 34
titles, The Rubans Noir series had 59 titles, and in total there were 201 titles. There
was a reorganization in 1971. Alsatia joins Hachette to launch a renovated Signe de
Piste under the name of Safari-Signe de Piste. [Anonymous 1]
The first works were published without indication of sequence number in the
series, believing the dates of edition were sufficient. Signe de Piste began numbering
the book about 1954. There were many republications, sometimes identical,
sometimes with different covers, but in general without any number on the book or
cover. Thus it is thus rather difficult to find and to list the books in any coherent
chronological order. Apparently many Signe de Piste titles were republished along
with some new titles during 1950-54, but in the form of a numbered series. It is thus
easier to classify these reprints. The distinction between the series "Red" and "Black"
disappears gradually, to be replaced by the indication of an age bracket on the cover
of back. [Anonymous 1]
The Signe de Piste books were divided into three series. The first series was
the "under-series" for 8-12 years olds. This series was also named the "Collection
Prince Eric". The second series was called "red label" for 12-15 year olds. The third
series was called called "black label" for older teenagers 15-18 year olds.
The Signe de piste editions included best-sellers by Serge Dalens,
Jean-Louis Foncine, and Guy de Larigaudie. Mik Fondal was a name used by Dales
and Focine when collaborating on books. Other important authors included
Jean-Claude Alain, Huguette Carriere, Jean-Marie Dooz, and Paul Henrys. One of
the author XB Leprince (also known as Eric Muraise) is one author whose wrote for
teenagers and historical reference books. All his novels have a strong historical base
(French and German history).
Characters like Bracelet of Vermeil, Prince Ericet, and others attracted
millions of readers for several generations.
HBC has not read any of the books and thus has no information on individual
titles. We will archive here any available information about specific titles.
A HBC reader asks, "I do not suppose that you read them all, I would like to
know if you have read The cargo liner of the last chance which intrigues me
more than
the others. This name of author in German means, "the breeches which resemble a
'leather lederhosen' that many German boys wear. Do you know if it is a translation
from a German book? If it is the case, do you know the original title of it?"
Noir means black, I', not sure what Foulard means. This book is about a French
Scout group, one of the common themes in this series. The boys wear blue berets,
sweaters, jackets, short pants, and knee socks. I know of no French Scouts that had
this uniform. but it is similar to uniforms that French Scouts did wear. An HBC reader
informs us that Foulard Noir" is French for "black neckerchief", which is of course
what the scouts on
the illustrated cover are wearing.
This book is about a prince in a fictional European country. The cover like many
Signe de Piste books has incongruities. In this case Mikhail wears boxing gloves while
soldiers are firing rifles. A French reader writes, "Regarding the incongruities in
Mickail, Prince of Hallmark , the story will shed light on the drawing (Mikail
was probably boxing with friends when the insurrection occurred)".
No other information available.
Some of the illustrations have realistic depictions of clothing. Others are highly
romanticized, perhaps drawn to appeal to a French boy's spirit of adventure. I think an
American boy looking at them may have judged a few to be a little on the "wild" side.
Many of the illustrations are quite artistically done. The covers usually have
exciting illustrations by various French artists. Pierre Joubert did many of them. Some
of the illustrations seem rather incongruous or unrealistic. An example is the cover here
with a prince in boxing gloves while rifles are being shot. A French reader explains that
the stories shed light on the drawings.
Pierre Joubert, a French illustrator during the 1950s and 60s, executed hundreds
of drawings of French youth. Some were drawn in the 1930s and 40s, but most were
produced in the 1950s and 60s. He draw numerous pictures for Boy Scout literature.
He also illustrated many Signe de piste books which was most popular in the
1950s and 60s. He illustrated the covers of many books with historical settings, but he
also drew to illustrate ordinary activities of French boys.
HBC has no information on other illustrators at this time. There were quite a
number of illustrators that did the Signe de Piste covers. We hope to
eventually learn something about the various illustrators.
These books were read around the world, but were more popular in the
French-speaking countries than in the English-speaking countries. As a boy growing
up in America during the 1950s, I do not recall seeing these books. There is an
element of fantasy involved in some of the covers that I have never seen in American
children's literature. Note the Prince D'Hallmark in the middle of what looks to be a
revolution wearing boxing gloves (figure 1). Now I have seen much more elaborate
fantasy in children's literature, but not the kind of seemingly incongruent scenes. We
have also not noted them being widely sold in Britain. I'm less sure about how popular
the books were in other European countries. other European countries like Italy,
Germany, and Spain. Hopefully HBC readers will be able to provide us more
information on the popularity of the Signe de piste book series. The books do
appear to have been widely distributed in Germany. A HBC reader reports that there
have been a couple stories translated into English in the Signe de piste. Also, some of
the authors in the Signe de piste have translated books from German and vice versa. I
believe that there was a strong demand for this type of books at one point, in France
and Germany.
Signe dePiste appears to be primarily aimed at conservative church-going families. A French reader writes, "You also mention the Signe de Piste series of books, whose readers are mostly catholic churchgoers (often rather conservative), a small minority of French young people. I think that by far the most popular heroe of the series readers is "Prince Eric" created by Jean Louis Foncine and Serge Dalens, with illustrations by Pierre Joubert, of course." [Ariaux]
The question of the distribution of French language material in foreign countries,
especially America and other English speaking countries is a larger question than just
Signe de Piste. Many other French publications were also not distributed in America.
HBC is attempting to assess this phenomenon.
Anonymous 1. Signe de Piste".
Ariaux, Bénédicte. E-mail message, June 17, 2003.
Lafrance, Christine. E-mail, October 3, 2002.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Artist pages: Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
The Publisher
Figure 2.--I have no idea what the story line of this Signe de Piste book was, but
the two boys appear o be in a wintery forest. Books like this never seem to have been
distributed in America. I am not who the illustrator was.
Chronology (1936-71)
Numbering System
Levels
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Titles
La cargo de la dernière chance
Figure 3.-- This Signe de Piste appears to have a Scout theme. Books with Scout
themes were a popular topic for books in this series. Books with Scout themes appear
to have been more popular in France than in America and Britain
Foulard Noir
Mikhail: Prince d'Hallmark
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Created: May 28, 2001
Spell checked: October 6, 2002
Last updated: June 17, 2003