1988
An advert for the 1988 ‘Trilogy 3-pack’ set release of the Original Trilogy on VHS:-
The first ‘set’ release of the Original Trilogy on home video tape.
Yet this was not really a box set release - more a ‘set’ release - in that it was the 3 separate Original Trilogy films bundled together with a piece of card wrapped around the 3 cassette tapes boxes.
1990 box sets are often mistaken as this 1988 ‘set’ release… as the 1990 box sets have a 1988 copyright logo and ‘legalese’ blurb on the underside for the ‘Star Wars Trilogy’ - despite being released in 1990. See Nathan Butler’s video linked for an explanation with further details.
It is the distinctive ‘wavey Trilogy’ text in the ‘Star Wars Trilogy’ (as seen in the poster above) that is the easiest way to tell this is the OT VHS set from 1988.
A couple of insert cards from the 1988 Original Trilogy set; a promo card, and a Lucasfilm Fan Club application & quiz:-
An image of the 1988 Original Trilogy display case - as was seen in stores at the time:-
^ taken from an ebay listing for the 1988 cardboard display - the tapes shown in the display are NOT from 1988; they are from 1990.
‘From the Star Wars Home Video Library #100: Star Wars Trilogy 3-Pack’ (1988):-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cEf_gqrE04 - a 22 minute video from the Nathan Butler youtube channel
1989
Some images of the rare 1989 Original Trilogy VHS box set release for the UK…
'From the Star Wars Home Video Library #382: 1989 UK OT VHS Releases’:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2LqfwUcbpA - a 5 minute video from the Nathan Butler youtube channel.
^ though not a video for the OT box set itself - it does feature rare & useful information from the same 1989 individual film releases.
It seems even the official Lucasfilm account on Facebook aren’t aware of their own 1989 VHS box set for the Original Trilogy:-
^ https://www.facebook.com/lucasfilm/photos/a.1909877712403585/3608369649221041 (image and info for the 1990 box set)
‘30 years ago this month, fans finally received the VHS box set they’d been waiting for – the Star Wars trilogy was packaged together for the very first time on home video. Did you get the box set in the 90s? #tbt #Lucasfilm — at Lucasfilm’
(8th October, 2020 - also interesting to note the first two replies on the right side of the screenshot above…)