Illustrated tale
"Balthazar overcomes his desire
for the Queen of Sheba,"
by Nobel Prize winner
Anatole France.
5 illustrations in color dated 1925
by Serge de Solomko, Editions Ferroud
(France, 20th c.)
Magos Foundation Collection
“At that time, Balthazar, whom the Greeks named Saracin, reigned in Ethiopia. He was black but had a handsome face. He had a simple mind and a generous heart. In the third year of his reign, when he was twenty-two years old, he went to visit Balkis, Queen of Sheba.”
Anatole France imagines an improbable and anachronistic love story between Balthazar (1st c. BC) and Queen of Sheba (10th c. BC)