Official Cover Art: Heir to the Empire: 20th Anniversary Edition by Timothy Zahn

20th Anniversary Cover Art

 Del Ray and Lucas Books are taking a very interesting choice on the new cover of the 20th Anniversary Edition of the groundbreaking Star Wars novel, Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn.  HttE really launched the modern Expanded Universe, and to celebrate its 20th anniversary we are getting a special re-release with annotations by Zahn and others, a new short story by Zahn and a special cover. 

Original Cover Art

To get an idea of what the cover will look like, look at the hardcover release of Death Troopers.  Where there is the dust jacket, and underneath instead of the normal plane hardcover with the binding, there is a glossy hardcover with the cover printed on it.  For HttE we will be getting a special new cover on the dust jacket and a re-printing of the original cover art on the hardcover of the book itself. 

Death Troopers: Dust Jacket w/poster on inside and printed cover on book.

From the StarWars.com Story: 

As previously announced, this year sees the 20th anniversary of one of the most important novels of the Star Wars Expanded Universe: Heir to the Empire, the 1991 work by author Timothy Zahn that launched the modern EU which continues to expand today. In celebration of this milestone, Del Rey Books is publishing a commemorative edition hardcover of Heir to the Empire, with commentary-style annotations by Zahn and other behind-the-scenes people responsible for making the book a reality.

          Zahn will also pen an introduction to the book.  The book features a reflective jacket (fitting for the book's platinum anniversary) and also has a specially printed version of the original cover underneath. It will include a new Zahn novella, Crisis of Faith, featuring Grand Admiral Thrawn. Heir to the Empire: The 20th Anniversary Edition is due out from Del Rey on June 21, 2011.