| Polish Bootleg Star Wars Novel | |
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Now here is something that the average collector doesn't come across everyday.
What we have here are two versions of how the Star Wars novel was released
in Poland. According to the source, the one on the left is an old bootleg of the
Star Wars novel and to the right of that is the first official release
of the novel. The bootleg was printed in the early 1980's while the licensed one
didn't get it's first printing until 1990. Communism was present in Poland at
the time and private companies, as well as individuals, were not allowed to print
anything in editions larger than 100. There were almost no Science Fiction books
by American authors in bookstores, so Polish fans of Science Fiction went to what
they called "the clubs" or fan clubs. Fan clubs printed some books in editions
of 100 "for internal use only". These bootleg novels were translated by amateurs,
and typed on typewriters. Then the novels were copied on duplicators. Star
Wars is one of the books that was made. It is considered to be a piece of
Polish history. Other Star Wars novels that were bootlegged are Empire
Strikes Back, Return
of the Jedi, The
Han Solo Adventures, and Splinter
of the Minds Eye. There are even dates in some of the books. "Splinter..."
is dated 1985 and one of Han Solo books is dated 1986. This bootleg novel is not
dated. However it does feature some very cool drawings, also made by amateurs,
that are signed and dated 1982.
The first shot we have is of the Title Page. The "author" of this book is apparently Andrzej Wroblewski.
This guy is really proud of his bootlegging job as he also wrote this Forward. The next 3 images are just a sampling of the myriad of cheesy images present in this novel. Personally, I think the images are the coolest part, not that I can understand a word of it though.
I don't know about the rest of you but this just brings me back to the
first time I saw Star Wars as a child. Okay, it doesn't really
but I imagine that's what it would look like if I ate some "Magic
Mushrooms" first. ;^) Man, Vader was scary but never this menacing. His hand is so tight around that poor Rebel's neck his head looks like it's about to pop off. Note the sneering Imperial right behind Vader. He really looks like he's enjoying the show. Laugh it up, one screw up and this could be you.
This is the coolest picture in the whole book. Pieces like this are what collecting is all about. I never even knew this existed until the novel literally fell into my lap. This book is 1 of only 100 copies ever made and epitomizes just how deeply Star Wars permeated our generation, so much so that it even found its' way into a country under Communist rule.
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| Description by: | John J. Alvarez |
| Photo: | John J. Alvarez |
| From the collection of: | John J. Alvarez |
| Country: | Poland |
| Film: | A New Hope |
| Licensee: | Unlicensed |
| Year: | 1977 |
| Category: | Books / Novels |
