Star Wars 1,000 Collectibles - Memorabilia and Stories From A Galaxy Far, Far Away

The new book, Star Wars: 1,000 Collectibles -- Memorabilia and Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away (Abrams, $35) is sure to delight Star Wars fans who've saved or collected Luke Skywalker, C-3PO and Chewbacca memorabilia over the years - or are merely die-hard fans of the enormously successful film series.

This thick 568-page book by Stephen Sansweet and Anne Neumann, features 1,000 full-color photographs of everything from Darth Vader popcorn poppers and R2-D2 thermal underwear to a Princess Leia bowling ball and Return of the Jedi roller skates.

Unlike J.K, Rowling, who seems to have put the kibosh on a lot of the potential Harry Potter product tie-ins, George Lucas has always been enthusiastic about licensing his movies and characters for commercial products. As a result, the authors of the book estimate fans and collectors around the globe have spent more than $15 billion on a wide variety of Star Wars merchandise over the past three decades.

Author Sansweet claims to have amassed the largest private collection of Star Wars products in the world, and his co-author Neumann is the collection's manager at "Rancho Obi-Wan," the headquarters where she has organized and archived its more than 75,000 items.

A few of the more pricy items in the book include two FAO Schwartz collectibles: a $2,000 Queen Amidala handbag covered with Swarovski crystals, and a $10,000 life-size seven-foot Darth Vader made out of Lego, both of which ended up selling for only 20% of their original price.

Other items included here are Star Wars Play-Doh sets, Jar-Jar Binks slippers, a Darth Vader Mr. Potato head, and plenty of watches, pajamas, t-shirts, robes, boxer shorts, dolls, lunchboxes, beach towels, trading cards, cereals, toasters, soy sauce bottles and much more.

The authors' in-depth explanations and background anecdotes about the memorabilia in the book and the merchandising of the films make it interesting for even the more casual fan.

One of the most unique mementos is found at the end of the book: a stuntman's cast from when he broke his leg while filming Return of the Jedi - signed by Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and many other cast and crew members.

As this delightful book so clearly proves, one man's trash really IS another man's treasure!