Star Wars fans will get a chance to own a rare piece of movie history when a collection of 30 posters goes under the hammer next month.
The stunning archive of the world's rarest posters connected to the sci-fi franchise has been compiled by Gary Kurtz, who produced the first two Star Wars films.
Oscar-winner Kurtz pieced together the collection of more than 30 advertising posters during his time as director George Lucas' right-hand man.
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Kurtz, a former vice president of Lucas' production company Lucasfilm snapped up the posters from cinema lobbies and on hoardings.
His collection includes posters in many different languages, including Japanese, German, Mandarin, Italian, Danish and even Hebrew.
The highlight is a 1978 poster commemorating the first anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars film, Episode IV: A New Hope, tipped to sell for £800.
Another is an original copy of the very first Star Wars poster issued in 1976, a year before the film was released.
The collection is tipped to fetch around £8,500 when it goes under the hammer at Profiles in History auction house.
A spokesman for Profiles in History said: "The Gary Kurtz collection comprises 30 lots of posters including the rarest versions in existence from the Star Wars film franchise in virtually every language.
"This amazing collection comes directly from Gary Kurtz, who produced Star Wars, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
"He also and served as Vice President of Lucasfilm from its creation in 1973 through 1981.
"Working very closely with George Lucas, Mr. Kurtz was instrumental in developing the original Star Wars trilogy and bringing the first two blockbuster films to the silver screen.
"Individual posters, let alone a whole collection of this rarity, quality and provenance seldom, if ever, come up for auction."
Joe Maddalena, president of Profiles in History, added: "The Gary Kurtz Star Wars poster collection is not only significant for the rare variety of posters, but also for the fact that they were collected and preserved by the man whose collaboration with George Lucas created cinema magic, impacting films and fans to this day."
The auction will take place in Calabasas, California, on October 1.
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