Books

First hardback edition, first printing, signed by the ghostwriter Alan Dean Foster on the title page, which solely credits George Lucas. This novelization of Star Wars: A New Hope was originally published as a paperback five months prior to the release of the film in May 1977 and represented the public's first encounter with a long-form story from the franchise. This Book Club hardback edition of July 1977 precedes the first trade hardback edition of November. It includes colour photographs from the film with captioned explanations of the Star Wars universe, which "very well may become a milestone in the space fantasy genre" (facing p. 42). The front panel of the dust jacket is designed by the lead poster designer for the original trilogy, and the rear panel gives credit for the film. Foster's version is "perhaps most notable for allowing its readers to experience the interiority of characters from the film. Although the film establishes Leia's willingness to shoot the stormtroopers, the novelization allows its readers to imagine the consequences of her act more vividly by narrating the stormtrooper's thoughts and aspirations" (Webster, p. 51). This copy has the printer's date code "S27" in the gutter of the final page, as required for the first printing. Its prologue opens with "Another galaxy, another time" in lieu of the more familiar "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." Jeremy W. Webster, "Leia Shot First: Transmedia Storytelling and the National Public Radio Dramatization of Star Wars", Star Wars and the History of Transmedia Storytelling, 2018. Octavo. Original grey boards, spine lettered in blue, fore edge untrimmed. With dust jacket by John Berkey. With 16 pages of colour photographic illustrations after the film set, printed on black paper stock with accompanying text. Extremities bumped, a little blue ink transfer to spine and front board; jacket unclipped, extremities rubbed and creased: a very good copy in like jacket.

This is a novelization of the 1977 film Star Wars, authored by Alan Dean Foster under the name George Lucas. It was initially published by Del Rey Books in 1976 before the film's release.