• Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    A Superb Extra-illustrated Copy of Nicolay and Hay’s Work About Lincoln. $50,000 – 70,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    The First Volume of De Bry's Great Voyages, Thomas Hariot's Description of Virginia. $50,000 – 70,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    An autographed cabinet card of Custer as lieutenant colonel. From his last sitting. $800 – 1,200.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 24:
    The Congressional Committee, Lincoln's Funeral Springfield Illinois, 3 May 1865. $4,000 – 6,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    A remarkable ninth plate daguerreotype of an interracial couple. $30,000 – 50,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    What may be the earliest known images of an identified plantation and enslaved African Americans posed with their owner. $20,000 – 30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    Through Tickets to All Principal Points West Via Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad For Sale at This Office. $500 – 700.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, Oct. 25:
    15th New York Infantry / Regiment of Engineers GAR regimental colors. Ca 1880. $1,500 – 2,500.
  • Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1556. Senghor, Les Élégies Majeures. Geneve 1978.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1572. Lew Tolstoy. Anna Karenina. First Edition, Moscow, 1878.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 49. Petrarca. Das Gluecksbuch, Augsburg, 1536.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1060. Immanuel Kant, Critik der reinen Vernunft. First Edition, Riga, 1781.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 585. Bonaparte, Iconografia della fauna Italica. Rome, 1832f.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 548. Robert Fludd. Utriusque cosmi maioris, Frankfurt, 1617f.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1496. Jacob / Picasso. Chronique des Temps, 1956.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 571. Christian von Wolff. Works, Halle 1741f.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 969. Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Dekorationen innerer Raeume. Berlin 1874.
    Jeschke Jádi
    Auction 153
    Friday October 25 and Saturday October 26, 2024
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1457. Goethe. Das Tagebuch. Print on Vellum. Berlin, Officina Serpentis. 1934.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 1316. Tolouse-Lautrec. Dessinateur. Duhayon binding, 1948.
    Jeschke Jádi, Oct. 25-26: Lot 30. Michael de Hungaria. Sermones praedicabiles, Strasbourg, 1494.
  • RareBookBuyer.com
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    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
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    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
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  • Sotheby’s
    Bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé : le dernier chapiter
    28 October 2024
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: Gide, André. Les Cahiers d'André Walter, 1891
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: Flaubert, Gustave. Salammbô. Paris, Michel Lévy frères, 1863. Édition originale
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: Scève, Maurice. Microcosme. Lyon, Jean de Tournes, 1562. Maroquin vert de Lortic fils. Rarissime édition originale.
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, 1855. Édition originale, imprimée par Whitman lui-même et reliée sur ses instructions. Avec un exemplaire de "Calamus", Boston, 1897
    Sotheby’s
    Bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé : le dernier chapiter
    28 October 2024
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: García Lorca, Federico. Poema del cante jondo. Madrid, 1931. Édition originale. Exemplaire offert par Lorca au journaliste basque Pedro Mourlane Michelena
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: Ronsard, Pierre de. Les Amours. 1553. [Suivi de:] Continuation des amours. 1557. In-8. Vélin. Troisième édition des Amours et deuxième édition de la Continuation
    Sotheby’s, 28 Oct: Vivaldi, Antonio. L’Estro Armonico... Amsterdam [1712]. Édition originale. Rares partitions de 12 concertos, gravées sur cuivre

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - January - 2015 Issue

Seeking Collectible Editions from a Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Screenshot of the Star Wars crawl.

Screenshot of the Star Wars crawl.

The first movie begins with a screen crawl in medias res with Episode IV and in a mythical time and place, classically the locus for the shaman’s struggle for self-realization, growth and unification with the infinite:

 

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....

It is a period of civil war. Rebel
spaceships, striking from a hidden
base, have won their first victory
against the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, rebel spies managed
to steal secret plans to the Empire's
ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an
armored space station with enough
power to destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents,
Princess Leia races home aboard her
starship, custodian of the stolen plans
that can save her people and restore
freedom to the galaxy....

 

The release of books based on the Star Wars films, however, is more like a journey into chaos then a classical literary study of the battle between Good and Evil.

 

The brilliant and wildly successful George Lucas, Star Wars’ originator, is first and foremost a filmmaker, not a publisher. The story imagined by Lucas was not originally a book, but first a story idea and then a screen play. The chronological release of Star Wars-related products, including the books, does not appear to have been done with any purpose other than to get as many products out as soon as possible.

 

A book publisher would have typically released a signed/limited edition first, then a trade hardcover, then a mass market paperback, either in conjunction with or after the release of the movie. But this did not happen with Star Wars.

 

The film was released in 1977. However, seven months before the film’s release, a mass market paperback edition appeared, written by Alan Dean Foster from Lucas’ screen play. Published by Ballantine, this book had 220 pp., a $1.50 cover price and a cover by Ralph McQuarrie. “First edition, December 1976” is on the copyright page.


Posted On: 2015-01-01 16:16
User Name: keeline

As already implied in the article, the first appearance in hardcover may not be the most valuable. The book club edition of Star Wars was printed in larger numbers than the trade first edition. Probably for a collector the simple answer is to own them both along with the 1976 paperback with the concept art.

Only some of the Han Solo and Lando Calrissian books from the late-1970s and early-1980s had trade editions so sometimes the only hardcover to be found is the book club edition.

The first Zahn book, Heir to the Empire (1991), has a seldom-seen band around the jacket.

This collection is not exhaustive (because I have not kept up with recent releases) but may be interesting to see some of what is out there.

https://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=Keeline&collection=93014&shelf=list&sort=date&sort=date

James D. Keeline


Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: CATESBY, MARK. 1683-1749. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. $100,000 - $150,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. 1785-1851. The Birds of America, from Drawings Made in the United States and their Territories. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: ADAMS ON HIS PEAR TREES AND A LOST PORTRAIT BY SALEM ARTIST HANNAH CROWNINSHIELD. ADAMS, JOHN. 1735-1826. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: EARLIEST MAP DEVOTED TO NORTH AMERICA. FORLANI, PAULO. fl.1560-1571. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: HAMILTON DEFENDS THE CONSTITUTION. HAMILTON, ALEXANDER. 1757-1804. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 24: NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION BROADSIDE. Boston, September 14, 1768. $5,000 - $8,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: ONE OF THE EARLIEST ILLUSTRATIONS OF A SURGICAL PROCEDURE. BARTHOLOMAEUS ANGLICUS. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: RICHARD FEYNMAN'S ANNOTATED COPY, WITH TWO EARLY FEYNMAN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPTS. $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN COMPUTING. TURING, ALAN MATHISON. 1912-1954. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: FINE OIL PORTRAIT OF ALBERT EINSTEIN BY EUGEN SPIRO. $40,000 - $60,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: PENICILLIN MOLD MEDALLION INSCRIBED BY ALEXANDER FLEMING. FLEMING, ALEXANDER. 1881-1955. $30,000 - $50,000
    Bonhams, now to Oct. 23: APPLE "TWIGGY" MACINTOSH PROTOTYPE USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMONSTRATION SOFTWARE. $80,000 - $120,000
  • Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 31: William Shakespeare, Second Folio, 1632. $120,000 to $180,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 175: Agostino Nifo’s De Regnandi Peritia ad Carolum VI, 1523. $25,000 to $35,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 263: Johannes Hevelius, Selenographia: Sive, 1647. $15,000 to $20,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 32: William Shakespeare, Poems, 1640. $15,000 to $20,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 230: Ernest Hemingway, in our time, Limited First Edition; One of 170 Copies Printed, Paris: Three Mountains Press, 1924. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 43: Amadis de Gaule Story Cycle, Various Authors, El Octavo Libro and El Noveno Libro, 1526 and 1542. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 25: John Milton, Poems of Mr. John Milton, 1645. $7,000 to $9,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 259: William Griffith Wilson, Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More than One Hundred Men Have Recovered, 1939. $15,000 to $20,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 242: Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 69: Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote in Spanish, Ibarra's Academy Edition, 1780. $6,000 to $8,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lot 9: Elizabeth I, Queen of England, The Historie of Guicciardin, 1599. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Swann, Oct. 24: Lor 103: Francisco Lopez de Ubeda, Libro de Entrentenimiento de la Picara Justina, 1605. $6,000 to $8,000.

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