Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume One (Topps Star Wars) Hardcover – Illustrated, 17 Nov. 2015

I fondly remember collecting series 1 in the UK back in 1978, swapping duplicates with friends and gradually completing the puzzles using the backs of the cards with the puzzle images. I really wish I still had them but sadly they are lost in the mist of time. This book brought back the nostalgia and spirit of those times and it was great to peruse all the images again. We only had series 1 and 2 in the UK, with no stickers included, and I personally only collected series 1.It's a nice solid hardback book. Some of the illustrations are a bit dim, especially the puzzle pictures. In the UK the backs of the cards with movie facts and plot summaries were of a brighter yellow too. But it does the job. The book's jacket is a bit flimsy, almost like the wax paper wrappers of the original cards. Best to remove it while perusing the book. The front and back covers of the actual book have cool bubblegum pictures, including one that is shattered into pieces which added to the nostalgia.The only downside is that although the book fulfilled a nostalgia factor, it also made me want the full set of series 1 even more lol. But so far I have refrained from paying a large wedge of cash just to hold them in my hands again.Worth the purchase for nostalgic fun. :)

I still remember it like it was yesterday - January 1978, when my dad took the then 7 year old me to London to Leicester Square to see Star Wars. I'd been badgering him for ages about it, and back then you had to remember that films opened in London first then would roll out to the rest of the country weeks later, hitting major cities first before then eventually made their way to our little Bucks market town, so a trip to London was the only way to see it. It was a few weeks after it had opened at Christmas '77, so we were able to get tickets at a frankly ridiculous expensive £2 or so each. I remember the queue snaking around the left of the front of the cinema, seemingly for miles, and my building excitement as we got closer and closer. I still have the R2-D2 badge and the official film programme he bought me at the time somewhere.Anyway, that was it - I came away from the cinema completely obsessed, and in truth I still am pretty obsessed 4 decades on. The Topps cards were an essential part of my youth, and I pestered my poor mum and dad to get me a pack every time we passed the local newsagent. Unlike many people I LOVED the weird pink gum you got in a pack, I think mainly for the smell of it, but it was the thrill of opening the waxy paper to see what cards you got that was the main thing. I wish I knew what happened to my collection, I suspect they were chucked out years ago when I first left home, but finally I get to relive it all again. This book collates them all (yes, it included the famous X-rated C3-PO one with his, ahem, metal appendage) and as soon as you open it the memories will flood back and you are instantly transported back 40 years.What is fascinating is the notes underneath many of the cards. The captions were obviously written before the guys at Topps had seen the film, so they had to guess and improvise on a lot of stuff. There's also pictures from unit photography which look different to what we saw in the film. It's utterly fascinating stuff for any Star Wars geek.

Star Wars was a licensors dream.For perhaps the first time ever - or at least to a scale never before seen - people (especially children) buying into a film franchise werent just buying into a movie, they were also buying into toys, cartoons, bed spreads, wallpaper, and indeed trading cards.These cards were produced by the company 'Topps', and would occupy the counters of news agents and corner shops accross the land, just waiting for excited school children to blow their weekly spending money on them, and the cries of "Got. Got. Got. Got. NEEEEEED!!!!" would subsequently become a regular feature of breaks and lunch times in every school the length and breadth of the country as those same children attempted to complete their collections by obtaining that one elusive card that they could never find!And there were plenty of cards to collect too. 330 to be exact for Star Wars (with additional series released to coincide with each of the sequals), which included images of the cast, the iconic vehicles and locations, important scenes from the movie, and behind the scenes shots of crew, make-up, and props. The reverse of each card meanwhile featured interesting facts about the production and filming of Star Wars, profiles of the actors careers prior to Star Wars, quotes and anecdotes, and technical information on vehicles.You even got a stick of gum!Sadly, I never managed to complete my collection as a child, but thankfully I finally get to release that heavy childhood burden from off of my now adult shoulders, because 'Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume One: 1' contains reproductions of the lot!EVERY image from every card and sticker, and every fact and figure, each accompanied by a commentary from the author, along with packaging images and promotional material, all spread accross more than 500 pages. The book even comes with its own packet of limited-edition bonus trading cards.In fact, the only thing the book doesnt include is a stick of the aforementioned gum - although I'm pretty sure that the dust cover is made out of the same paper that the packets for those original cards was made out of!