The Star Wars Vault: Thirty Years of Treasures from the Lucasfilm Archives

by Stephen J. Sansweet, Peter Vilmur

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."

It's been 30 years since those immortal words were first seen on movie screens nationwide and it was the start of a worldwide phenomenon and the beginning of the most successful movie franchise of all time.

The Star Wars Vault: Thirty Years of Treasures from the Lucasfilm Archives, With Removable Memorabilia and Two Audio CDs by Stephen J. Sansweet and Peter Vilmur (HarperEntertainment; on-sale October 30, 2007; $85.00) is the official illustrated book celebrating this year's 30th anniversary of George Lucas' first Star Wars movie, and includes removable reproductions of memorabilia, along with two CDs containing vintage radio ads, original cast interviews, George Lucas' commentary, and even Carrie Fisher singing in the Star Wars Holiday Special.

The Star Wars Vault is the insider's look at the development and making of all six movies, and the huge cultural impact they've had. In addition to hundreds of photos and pieces of artwork, the book includes fifty interactive, rare -even some never-before-seen - pieces of memorabilia.

Among the book's features are:

The special questionnaire for the first and only test screening of the original Star Wars — and the invitation to attend it
George Lucas' hand-written treatment for The Empire Strikes Back
Lucasfilm Christmas cards Iron-on T-shirt transfer.
The very first concept sketch drawn for Star Wars Blueprints of Star Wars vehicles and sets
Original hand-written directions for ground-breaking special effects

The Star Wars Vault is the ultimate, one-of-a-kind insider's look into the sensation that launched a phenomenon.

Genres: Star Wars, Reference, Science Fiction, Film, Media Tie In, Art, Fiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Sansweet was born and educated in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. He studied at Temple University from 1962 to 1966, majoring in journalism. Three years after graduating, in 1969, he began work as a reporter at the Wall Street Journal in both Philadelphia and Montreal. He was promoted to deputy bureau chief in 1984, and later the chief of Wall Street Journal's Los Angeles bureau in 1987. In February 1996, he joined Lucasfilm as director of specialty marketing. He is currently director of content management and in charge of fan relations.

Sansweet's collection has also been featured on the History Channel's Boy's Toys special "Private Collections".

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection to mark the 30th anniversary of “Star Wars” (published in 2007), this includes 50 interactive, rare and some never-before-published memorabilia items, including reproductions of Lucas's own handwritten script pages, flip-through catalogs, swag, posters, T-shirt transfers, tattoos, stickers, blueprints, production notes, animation cells and more! There are also two CDs containing over 2 hours of vintage radio ads, original cast interviews, excerpts from the NPR Star Wars radio drama, the complete Star Tours soundtrack, George Lucas's commentary and other tracks that tell the story of everyone's favorite galaxy battle as never before.
I’ve had this for ages and was feeling a little melancholic, so I decided I needed a nostalgia blast and this fitted the bill. Beautifully produced, it’s a hefty volume and the memorabilia and ephemera are incredible - a lot seems to be US-only, so I hadn’t seen some of it and it was nice to hold. In addition, there’s a through-story of how the films came together and this is accompanied by a lot of well reproduced photographs. I can’t imagine how complicated this was to put together, but I’m glad someone took the trouble. Well worth a look and highly recommended.

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I meant to simply peruse this, but of course I got sucked in for hours instead - which always happens when I bring the Vault down from the top of my bookcase, so I'm not sure why I thought this time would be any different! This book showcases the importance of objects in the franchise's history; pulling out and holding the reproduced items really drives the point home.

[Milan Pohl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jedna ze zcela nepostradatelných knih Star Wars. Nelze hodnotit jinak než pěti hvězdičkami.

[Luis Del Aguila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro es realmente una joya es un gran compilatorio de objetos relevantes de la historia de Star Wars desde la vision de Sansweet; tiene muchos facsímiles, entre planos, stickers, juegos, etc., En el contenido escrito tambien tiene mucha informacion nueva que describe (no con mucho detalle) las caracteristicas de lo que se adjunta como ejemplo el pequeño poster como publicidad japonesa que usa el cuadro de la gran ola de kanagawa con personajes de la saga es muy interesante.
Creo que todo coleccionista de Star Wars deberia tener un ejemplar de este libro/objeto.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a dream for Star Wars Fans. It is a history of Star Wars memorabilia and marketing. It includes several dozens reproductions of promotional items, marketing materials and production notes tracing the 30+ year history of the films.

Also included are two audio CD's with rare audio clips, including Carrie Fisher singing the "Life Day" song from the Star Wars Holiday Special!

Very cool.

[Stephen Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Star Wars fan? Even just a little bit? You want this.

As a little (actually, pretty big) collection of historical and making-of paraphernalia, writings, photos and art, this is a fantastic collection, beautifully put together.

My girls bought it for me as a gift; it's definitely a treasure for this Star Wars fan!

[Mhorg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another in the brilliant vault series, as well as having excellent pictures and informative prose, it's the reproductions of items that today are either too pricey for the fan, or simply not in existence any longer that makes this book so worth having. I find myself looking at it again and again, and I'm never bored by it.

[Elizabeth Judd Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I've had for a few years, but it's a fun one to pull out every now and then. It's chock full of goodies to look at and pull out--reproductions of posters, giveaways, scripts, blueprints, etc.--plus lot of background information on the films. Definitely a lot of fun for any Star Wars fans out there!

[Khairul Hezry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of pictures, memorabilia, old photos, interviews...just everything the discerning Star Wars nerd would want in his/her collection.

[Lori]

I'm having a crisis with my son and hope this puts him back on track.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rally awesome

[Matt Turley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got to see Steve's collection of SW memorabilia at SW: Celebration II. The concept of this book is incredibly cool. Execution was great as well.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is just fantastic; the detail and all of the bits and pieces included within give the best insight into the making of the Star Wars saga that you could want.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and I'm not even a star wars nut. I had to buy it anyways. I had never seen such a great collection.

[Abraham Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok.

[John Stinebaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cool. Lives up to the billing of a museum in a book. Couldn't bring myself to use any of the artifacts though.

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greatest book a Star Wars fan could ever have! I freaking love it!