By Denise McCarty

Great Britain’s Royal Mail has timed the issue of its Star Wars prestige booklet to coincide with the Dec. 17 opening of the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the United Kingdom. The film opens in the United States the next day, Dec. 18.

The 26-page booklet contains fives panes of stamps. Four of these panes include the Star Wars stamps issued Oct. 20 (Linn’s, Oct. 5, page 1). The fifth pane contains four first-class Union Jack stamps and two each of the nondenominated first- and second-class Queen Elizabeth II Machin definitives.

In addition to the stamp panes, the booklet features text and illustrations telling the story behind Great Britain’s contributions to the Star Wars film series.The booklet pages shown here feature storyboards and production information.

Royal Mail has set up a website for the Star Wars stamps. Ordering information also is available from Royal Mail, Tallents House, 21 S. Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9PB, Scotland. Royal Mail’s two agencies in the United States are Interpost, Box 420, Hewlett, NY 11557; and the British Stamp Service in North America, 1 Unicover Center, Cheyenne, WY 82008.