Finished reading “The Star Wars Archives: 1977-1983 (Episodes IV-VI) (40th Anniversary Edition)” (2020), edited by Paul Duncan and published by TASCHEFinished reading “The Star Wars Archives: 1977-1983 (Episodes IV-VI) (40th Anniversary Edition)” (2020), edited by Paul Duncan and published by TASCHEN tonight. The “40th Anniversary Edition” releases in 2020 were smaller sized (and much less expensive) rereleases of some of TASCHEN’s more popular high-end coffee table books released by them over the course of their first forty years as a publisher.
The “Star Wars Archives: 1977-1983 (Episodes IV-VI) book (the expensive oversized limited edition release) was published in 2018 and had a release price of $200. The 40th Anniversary Edition that I read (borrowed from the public library) reformats the material from a large wider-than-it-is-tall art style book into a more standard taller-than-it-is-wide format, necessitating reformatting the positions of the text and illustrations/photographs on each page from the original version. (It is also a much more affordable edition, with a release price of only $25.) However, I believe that some of the photos and illustrations were saved for only the original edition (not included in the newer edition).
This 40th Anniversary Edition is a nice thick book (512 pages) covering the production of all three of the original Star Wars movies (“Star Wars”, a.k.a. “Star Wars: A New Hope” (1977), “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” (1980), and “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” (1983). The majority of the text is from interviews between author/editor Paul Duncan and George Lucas. The rest is interview quotes with the actors (Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, etc.) as well as others behind the scenes (directors, producers, writers, etc. There are also production notes interspersed between the interview sections, including details such as which scenes were shot on which days and involved which actors.
The photos on each and every page are amazing. Behind the scenes production shots (including ones of the actors between takes) as well as preproduction sketches and illustrations.
The only thing that is a bit confusing at first is that the text and the pictures don’t go together, the two progressing along at different paces through the production of each movie. I developed a habit of looking at the pictures first and their captions, then back to whatever things Lucas and Duncan were talking about in the text.
The other thing about this smaller 40th Anniversary Edition release is that the gold ink on the front cover rubs off very easily, leaving partial lettering after your fingers have rubbed the gold ink off just from holding the book. I ended up buying a copy of my own, I enjoyed this book so much, but I just might have to wear gloves when handling it.
I highly recommend this book, though, for any fans of the original Star Wars movies. (There is also a second book covering the prequel trilogy, “The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005 (Episodes I-III), but it’s only available in the original 2020 $200 limited edition version still, no lower priced version as of yet.)...more
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