Well I know I’m a bit late to the party with this review but personally I think the more press this self-published book receives the better. French collector and all round French star wars braniac Stephane Faucourt released ‘La French Touch: History of French Star Wars Merchandising 1977-1986’ in June last year and it has been incredibly well received in the vintage collecting community. This great read is a follow-up to Stephane’s previous release – ‘Meccano to Trilogo’  in 2006, and provides a near exhaustive account of star wars related merchandising during the period of the original trilogy (some will say the only true star wars era).

My copy of Stephane’s book

Contents page

`Paris based Stephane is one of the world’s leading authorities on French star wars collecting and merchandising and he has been actively collecting since the mid-1990s. Not only is Stephane a well-known collector but he is also recognised equally on the forums and Facebook groups as one of the nice guys of the hobby. Stephane and I have a mutual friend – Matthieu Barthelemy, another Parisian vintage stars wars collector and supporter of Europe’s worst football team – Paris St-Germain, who kindly gave me the photo below.

Stephane and Matthieu at a recent auction in Paris

Being half-French myself I was very excited to get my grubby little paws onto Stephane’s book so I ordered one almost immediately. The aesthetics of the book’s contents were magnificent and it was a real joy flicking through each of the 244 full colour pages and being hit by a total of 1300 beautiful photos of French star wars memorabilia. The striking visuals of this cracking book has set the bar extremely high for other similar attempts to detail star wars collecting. 

Signed to yours truly

Although this book was released originally in French, Stephane translated it into English and was assisted by his friend Dallas Ewen. When I spoke with Stephane, he told me that he was extremely happy with the assistance that Dallas gave him as he was able to correct Stephane’s text and to lend it a real contemporary feel, without being too formal. I found the translation quite smooth and easy to read. Stephane is an adept writer and he really drew me in with his personal style and storytelling abilities.

When I first skimmed the book, I was a little disappointed by the amount of non-action figure related information as I do not collect this memorabilia. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how interesting these sections were once I properly read them. Given this, I’m certain this book will appeal to quite a broad audience, much wider than simply star wars toy collectors such as myself. 

Food products and premiums

Records and audio tapes

So what were my favourite bits of the book? Well for the sake of brevity I’ll have to painfully limit myself to only two. Being an avid MOC collector, I have to say that the stunning photos of the Meccano MOCs were the high point for me, particularly the glorious Luke Skywalker examples. I also loved seeing the French translations of Luke’s various costumes. My second name is ‘Luc’ so it’s great to see the name that I was always teased about in Sydney finally get some rockstar air time.

Luc (Tenue de Chevalier Jedi)

My second favourite highliight has to be the fantastic catalogue and advertisement artworks that were captured in the book. Some of the photo dioramas were outstanding. I loved this example below.

Ads and catalogues

I have to add that I was quite chuffed to see a 1977 issue of ‘ecran’ featured, of which I have the same issue. My wife’s father who is a massive film buff (but unfortunately not a star wars fan) owned it since 1977 and handed the baton on to me last year.

My copy of ecran

‘La French Touch’ really is a tour de force and I truly hope that Stephane will inspire collectors from around the globe to produce similar efforts. I’d love to see something similar about merchandising in say Brazil, Argentina or even my host country The Netherlands. 

Although Stephane is not currently working on a follow-up to this splendid book nor is he involved in a major project of a similar nature, he can often be seen contributing to websites in an effort to broaden the appeal of French star wars collectibles. In addition, he appears at conventions, often as a panelist, and is doing his best to make sure that French collectables receive the credit they deserve. Here are a couple of shots of the dashing Frenchman strutting his stuff at a recent convention in France.

Stephane at Generation SW

Stephane at Generation SW (2)

In recent times Stephane and his friend Yann Leroux (who designed the book cover) released some fantastic giveaways, such as buttons and exclusive flyers based on a Chewbacca (aka Chiqtabba) action figure painting from UK Alastair Eales artist. These goodies were given away at the Generation SW French event in early May and have been extremely popular ever since. Look out for Stephane at the next big event!

Stephane and Yann

Yann, Isaac Lew, Stephane and Chris Georgoulias

Although Stephane tells me that the book is selling quite well, he still has a few copies available. So if you are into French star wars collecting, or just a star wars fan in general, I urge you to buy a copy of this book, then sit back, put on a pair of slippers and let Stephane take you on an exquisite and nostalgic ride. 

You can order a book online directly from Stephane using this link:

http://www.meccano2trilogo.com/booking.php

Stephane has kindly offered a special giveaway exclusive to my readers if you order a copy directly from him. Enter ‘Chiq’ into the comment box of the order form and you will receive a complimentary limited exclusive Chewbacca flyer (until stocks last).

Chewie flyer

Finally, I have to say, apologies for my unbelievably horrifying photography skills! I will improve!

Thanks for reading.