Polish Bootleg Splinter of the Mind's Eye Novel

Now here is something that the average collector doesn't come across everyday. What we have here is a bootleg version of how the Splinter of the Mind's Eye novel was released in Poland. The bootlegs were printed in the early 1980's while a 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. Splinter... is one of the books that was made. It is considered to be a piece of Polish history.

The first shot is the title page where you can see it was "Splinter...". The page also lists the author, Alan Dean Foster, and George Lucas' name. If you look in the lower right hand corner you'll see where it denotes that it was limited to 100 pieces.

The next shot is the final page of the book where it lists which books are finished and which are still in production.

The final shot is of what is thought to be a complete set of Polish novels. Star Wars novels that were bootlegged are Star Wars, 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.

Description by: John J. Alvarez
Photo: John J. Alvarez
From the collection of: John J. Alvarez
Country:Poland
Film:Star Wars Saga (1986-2007)
Licensee:Unlicensed
Year:1995
Category:Books / Novels


  


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