Item #809 Star Wars. George Lucas.

Star Wars

New York: Ballantine, 1976. First Edition. Paperback. 1st edition. Fine in wrappers with no excuses. The first appearance of Star Wars in any form, a loyal novelization (Alan Foster), published in Nov. 1976, preceding the first film (May 25, 1977) by 6 months. All the other editions of Star Wars, in any other binding, are later, including the Marvel comic book (issued in Apr. 1977 though dated July and, also preceding the film), the Science Fiction Book Club edition (Jun. 1977), and the movie tie–in trade edition (Oct. 1977). The 2 hardbound books are frequently, and faithlessly, offered as 1st editions without any qualifiers (like being told you can’t buy anything specific because you are in a general store). And those later editions are often cataloged with a falsely attributed 1976 date in printed catalogs and on internet sites that ought to be taken as more insulting than being pre–denied by mail for a Visa card that you did not apply for (there are online booksellers who should have a brother in the slave trade, so they would have someone to look up to). Furthermore, copies of our 1st edition are always for sale, but they are almost never fine, despite being called fine, and most of them look as if they have been stapled to the asphalt at the entrance gate of a Taylor Swift concert, then picked up the next day, for sale to the gullible on eBay or ABE, and deserve the response, “What do you take me for?”. Fine. Item #809

I am the chip on my own shoulder when it comes to post–1970 paperback 1st editions, and when I do buy one, it is with all the wariness of Frogger crossing the arcade highway. Moreover, I concede that venerating Star Wars could lead me into some terrifically bad company, but it is the modern galactic epic, an enormous literary touchstone, a hallmark of “Made in America,” the prevailing saga of our time, an incalculably valuable franchise, and the prettiest child of space opera. And though its fame is predominantly for its cinematic visual distractions, profusion of humanoid characters, technology, backstory, depth, milieu, robots, political premises, spacecraft, heroic women, psychological motifs, and Jedi mysticism, it also showcases themes of family, destiny, hope, purification, and redemption, and it repeatedly poses a lofty and piercing idea: It is a single light that shines from 200 billion trillion stars.

Price: $200.00

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