The Star Wars Poster Book [Hardcover]

Stephen J. Sansweet (Author), Peter Vilmur (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 13, 2005

One of the very first Star Wars posters had no images at alljust enormous block letters that announced, "Coming to Your Galaxy This Summer: Star Wars." The rest is history. Now, 28 years later, the 350 most amazing Star Wars movie posters are collected for the first time. This compilation spans the surreal to ultra realistic, the campy to darkly serious: Darth Vader's head exploding in a shower of camera parts; Anakin Skywalker casting an ominous Sith shadow; C-3PO and R2-D2 selling Star Wars shoes; Luke and Vader in mortal battle aboard the Death Star. Classic posters are joined with text by the world's foremost Star Wars collector, Stephen Sansweet, and poster collector Peter Vilmur, behind-the-scenes stories from artists and designers, a scarcity guide to over 2,000 posters, and a bootleg identification guide. Exploding with color, The Star Wars Poster Book illuminates an unexplored corner of Star Wars history.

2005 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stephen J. Sansweet is the director of content management and head of fan relations at Lucasfilm. He lives in Sonoma County, California.

Peter Vilmur is an online content developer at Lucasfilm and lives in Petaluma, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (October 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811848833
• ISBN-13: 978-0811848831
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #777,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely breath taking, December 21, 2005

By 

Jenny (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Star Wars Poster Book (Hardcover)

This book is the most comprehenstive look at the various Star Wars poster that have ever existed. Many of them we are familair with, but some we have never seen. Such as a cheep version of the classic '77 poster found in theaters in the USSR.

The side comments about the posters by the authors are cute and add a sense of true fandom. The pictures are in such good detail that you can read the tiny print found on the posters themselves in the book.

A must have for any diehard Star Wars fan. And for the Original Trilogy fans, they too will be delighted since 4/5 of the book focus on the Original Trilogy posters. *thumbs up*

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Star Wars Poster Bible - An Absolute Must Have!!!!!, November 4, 2005

By 

Jeff Rosen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Star Wars Poster Book (Hardcover)

I dare you to search the internet and try to find every poster that is shown in this book. You won't find it. This book is that comprehensive and is going to be used as the definitive book on Star Wars poster collecting. It's already being used by dealers as the cite different descriptions in their eBay listings. If you collect Star Wars posters, this is not just a great book, this is a Must Have.

If the 300 pictures were not enough. The authors spent loads of time researching how and why these posters were created. All of the information has been collected first hand and most of it has never been told before. To top it off, the captions describing each poster goes into detail with some tidbit of information that you would have never known. These small details add volumes to the book's usefulness.

Lastly, if you are trying to collect every known Star Wars poster, you'll be in for a treat. The authors collated a list of every poster that they know to exist. These aren't just US release posters. They have searched the globe for find every poster from every country that they could find. Nowhere else has such a list been tabulated. The authors also include a rarity index so you can determine if a poster dealer is telling you the truth, that you will never find this poster for sale again!!!

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive visual reference guide but incomplete., October 13, 2005

By 

Dave Cordes (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Star Wars Poster Book (Hardcover)

At last... a comprehensive visual compendium of the most celebrated artistic promotional film marketing campaign worldwide... almost. You would think that the opulent Mr. Sansweet would have in his possession every single poster to have ever rolled off the printing press for this unprecedented franchise but several of my favorite foreign one-sheets, daybills, banners and bus stop posters are notably missing. Does this mean that Mr. Sansweet has not aquired all of them in his envious collection of Star Wars memorabilia? Not likely. Chances are he has every single one of them... locked away somewhere within the bowels of his coveted archives. Most notably absent is the lack of reference material specifically promoting Revenge of the Sith and would seem to indicate that this book was completed and ready to be published just prior to the film's theatrical exhibition, but there is a plethora of wonderful international promotional material such as the six character U.K. bus stop posters that are much more visually exciting than the disappointing U.S. domestic ad campaign that demands to be published. This can only mean that another volume must be sure to follow. Still, there are enough international poster variations out there to keep collectors like myself and presumably Mr. Sansweet himself scouring the farthest reaches of the globe and the galaxy for years to come.