Saturday, September 14, 2013

Variant "Story of" Books

I managed to order a somewhat new copy of Luc Besson's book, The Adventure and Discovery of a Film:  The Story of The Fifth Element.  My English copy is pretty worn out and abused, so I thought I'd order the French version just to have a better copy.  You can find the book cheap on amazon.com under L'histoire du cinquieme element.  Most of these copies are imported from Japan.  I paid just over $35 for mine.  It's somewhat used, but in good condition nonetheless.

For a long time I've heard that this was the only Luc Besson book to be translated into English, with its French counterpart.  I had NO idea that the book I would be getting would be entirely in Japanese!  I had no idea that this variant even existed.  I have the La Femme Nikita Story of book as well, and as we know, outside of The Fifth Element, none of his other books are translated outside of France.  So I was VERY surprised.

There are a few slight differences from the English version, such as a wrap cover with the actor pictures, over the book face which is just very plain.  The book also does not finish its artwork off with the French Metro Leeloo poster, but with additional concept sketches in black and white.

I HIGHLY suggest picking up this book if you can.  It's an exceptional piece and a nice variant on an already existing out of print book.  If you can handle having your copy in Japanese, then the prices listed on Amazon are pretty fantastic for a book that's out of print in English and exceptionally expensive.

Plus, it's always neat to discover something new.

Please keep in mind that this is a 1998 reprint via Sony Magazine and Intervista, and is labeled a "premiere edition".

Good luck and happy hunting!