Screenplays

Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox. 1940. The revised shooting final screenplay, dated December 15, 1939, although with 24 pages of colored inserts dating from January and February, 1940. Machine stamped "copy #1," belonging to the producer Darryl F. Zanuck. This was one of the two screenplays that O'Hara worked on from September to December 1939 and shared screenplay credits for, in this case with Karl Tunberg and Don Ettlinger. The movie was produced by Zanuck, and starred Vera Zorina, Erich von Stroheim and Peter Lorre. Quarto; mimeographed pages with blue revision sheets inserted. Near fine in printed studio wrappers. Rare. Unless otherwise noted, our first editions are first printings. First Edition. Softcover. Near Fine.

London: Secker & Warburg, 1973 First printing of the first U.K. edition. Publisher's black cloth and dust jacket with £2.50 price, Octavo, 163pp.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s copy (Who wrote the forward), with his armorial bookplate on front-free-endpaper (also, loosely laid-in is an auction card for The Estate of Douglass Fairbanks, Jr.

Signed and inscribed by Harold French to Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who wrote the Foreword.

Light bump to upper board edge, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with mild edge wear, light tanning to spine, and a bit of age-toning to top edge of flaps, else dust jacket in fine condition.

Unique, signed-association copy , scarce thus.

(n.p.): Garp Enterprises/Radio-Telegraphic Company. 1991. A very early draft of the screenplay that won Irving an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay, based on his sixth novel. Signed by Irving. This is the earliest copy of the script we have seen: the film was released in 1999; this version is dated "June 14, 1991, Revised." Hand-numbered "42." There are substantial textual differences between this early version and the final version. 130 pages, stringbound, with one remaining brad. Foxing to pages; near fine. An award-winning script, seen here as a work in progress. Unless otherwise noted, our first editions are first printings. First Edition. No Binding. Near Fine.

N.p.: N.p., 1970. One page, typescript, with a couple of typeover corrections. A fascinating muse by Southern on the crafting of the "Easy Rider," screenplay, focusing on how he actually wrote Jack Nicholson's role for Rip Torn, with a detailed explanation of why Torn did not ultimately fill the role. Full provenance available on request. Blank office stock, recto only, 8.5 x 11 inches. Near Fine.

Los Angeles, 1975. Screenplay, Second Draft. Hardcover. Very Good. Screenplay, second draft dated August 1, 1975, based on the novel of the same title by Patricia Nell Warren published by William Morrow in 1974. Written by Larner, winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Candidate and commissioned by actor Paul Newman, who was the first of many over the last 40 years who owned the screen rights. A controversial novel in its days - the story is of an All-American coach who falls in love with a young track star in his training - it was the first gay-themed novel to make The New York Times' bestseller list, and since then has become emblematic of the romantic headiness of the 70s gay liberation that gave way to the crushing realities of the AIDS epidemic a decade later. After Newman's option expired, the novel rights changed hands multiple times (they have now reverted to author Warren after a legal dispute was recently settled out of court), and at some point a film version was… Read More

Burbank, CA: Warner Brothers, 1959. Draft script for the 1960 film "Ocean's Eleven," seen here as "Oceans Eleven or And the Angels Sing." Copy belonging to actor Peter Lawford, with his name on the front wrapper and his manuscript annotations throughout. Lawford owned the rights to the film, and accompanying this script is a signed note written on his wife's stationery that reads: "Oceans 11 / $10,000 / 50-50- / P. Lawford," a copy of a contract between Lawford and talent agent Milton Ebbins, and a clipping of a full-page advertisement for the film from "Variety" magazine. A classic and well-loved heist film, "Ocean's Eleven" is the quintessential Rat Pack picture, in which a group of World War II veterans attempts a series of high-profile casino robberies in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve. Steven Soderbergh directed a popular 2001 remake of the film (with two sequels), starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon. Set in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and shot on location in both cities. Pale… Read More

Milano: Ricordi, 1830. First Edition — Primera edición. 232x325mm. (9¼x12¾").. Milano & Firenze, Gio. Ricordi, c.1830. Folio oblongo (232 x 325)mm. (1) hoja de título, (1) h. de índice y personajes, 266 pp., 5 láminas grabadas y coloreadas a mano en la época representando los escenarios de la obra sobre dibujos de Sanquirico. Encuadernación en pleno marroquén de época color azul marino, hilo y rueda dorada enmarcando los planos, lomera cuajada de adornos dorados, rueda dorada en los contracantos, cabeza y cortes también dorados. Primera edición de gran rareza extra ilustrado con láminas de Sanquirico. Il Talismano, con libreto de Gaetano Barniere sobre texto de Walter Scott, fue la primera representación en el Teatro alla Scala de Milán, representada el 10 de junio de 1829. El libro, todo grabado en plancha, está además ilustrado con 5 magníficas láminas grabadas en litografía y coloreadas a mano inventadas y dibujadas por Alessandro Sanquirico representando escenarios para la… Read More

1972. Original unpublished and unproduced screenplay about revolt on an American Slave ship [the Fair Angelica] navigating the middle pa ssage, circa 1835. A very unusual subject for Matthiessen. Fair Angelica is a first draft, typed carbon, 123 loose leaves -- an agency copy used to solicit producers and investors -- one of whom was the progressive filmmaker Martin Ritt. Black Cargoes is a revised and retitled draft, 112 pp. in black studio 2 -post covers. Mostly mimeographed, but with a dozen typed and corrected pages interleaved; numerous holographic additions or changes throughout by Matthiessen. The change in title may have been to capture investor interest; there was popular work of non-fiction several years prior [Black Cargoes - A History of the Atlantic Slave Trade by Daniel Mannix and Malcom Cowley.] However this treatment by PM is a work of fiction and unrelated to the earlier book. This screenplay is not mentioned in any bibliographic works about PM. The only other known copy is in… Read More

Playland is an example of the many screenplays written by Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne that were never produced. In the wake of several cancelled contracts, they wrote this script about the gangster Bugsy Siegel for Lorimar Productions, Inc. Warner Bros. subsequently acquired Lorimar and axed most of the ongoing projects. Some of the material was incorporated into Dunne's 1994 novel of the same title. This rare copy of an unproduced screenplay is a wonderful example of Didion's style and thematic interests, as well as her creative relationship and artistic collaboration with her husband.
Unpublished, 1988. 144 pages. 29.5 x 22 x 2. Light blue card covers, bound with two brass metal brads as standard professional screenplay binding, title written on spine in black marker. Photocopied. Interior pages are clean, overall in very good condition. Unproduced screenplay, extremely scarce, no copies seen in WorldCat.

A rare copy of the screenplay for Play It As It Lays, Didion's adaptation of her 1970 novel of the same name. The relatively well-received film, starring Tuesday Weld (turning in a Golden Globe nominated performance) and Anthony Perkins, is an observation of Hollywood from the perspective of an actress in a state of crisis after a series of professional and personal setbacks. A close and careful study of alienation, efforts to hide the effects of alienation, and how hard it can be to recover from existential crises. The movie has fallen into a bit of obscurity, and it is not currently available on any streaming service, except for a middling quality YouTube upload, and the screenplay itself was never published, leading fans of Didion clamoring for insight into her writing process, from novel, to film adaptation, without access to either. In a 2015 article for The Los Angeles Times, writer David Ulin wrote about as short sample of the screenplay he'd come across in a book called "Works in Progress" and… Read More

A comic and camp original musical adaptation of Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbon's best known novel and one of the funniest ever written. Miller was best known as writer of "Dames at Sea" which helped launch Bernadette Peters's career. Faris was a distinguished conductor and composer of film and TV music (Georgy Girl, Upstairs Downstairs). Never known to be performed, no other known copies. Two act play with 17 musical numbers, lyrics only included here.
London, privately printed, no date, likely 1970s. 100 pages. 25.5 x 20.5 x 1.5 cm. Playscript, stapled, bound with black tape, sunned green card cover with typed label. Some fading, light mark to back cover, in very good condition.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf / A Borzoi Book, 1947 First printing of the first edition, original publisher’s teal cloth, yellow top edge; in original dust jacket; written while Hughes was a visiting writer in residence at Atlanta University, containing over 70 poems including “Border Line” that was submitted by Hughes for the 1962 anthology Poet’s Choice. A presentation copy from Langston Hughes to Marius Flothius: “Especially for / Marius Flothius / with my thanks for your excellent / musical settings / of my poems, / Sincerely / Langston Hughes / New York, November 1, 1955.” Additionally, loosely laid-in is a brochure for Hughes’ “The Rhythms of the World” and a single page carbon copy of Hughes’ short poem “Cross.”
Marius Flothuis (1914–2000) was a Dutch composer who set six of Hughes’ poems to music.
Shallow crimping to cloth spine ends, the very tip of the bottom back corner slightly softened, and light toning to… Read More

New York: Columbia Theater Associates of Columbia University, 1950 Original printed tri-fold playbill, with a typed slip for a replacement cast member laid-in; playbill is displayed in a two-sided black glass frame; sale also includes an original ticket stub tipped-in. Presentation copy from Langston Hughes, along with inscriptions from other cast and production members (Muriel Rahn who played Cora Lewis and Jan Meyerowitz who wrote the music). In 1949, Hughes reworked his pet thesis of the "tragic mulatto" from his 1928 play "Mulatto" into an opera, "The Barrier," the music written by modern composer, Jan Meyerowitz. The opera was first produced in the Brander Matthews Hall at Columbia University in 1950 and directed by Milton Smith. The playbill reproduces Hughes? thoughts on his libretto, "It concerns the bitter wall of color between the inhabitants of Albamar Plantation in contemporary Georgia, Colonel Thomas Norwood, his brown housekeeper, Cora Lewis, and their… Read More

6/12/1978. Loose-leaf. Typed draft script of 1982 TV movie ""Sister, Sister,"" by Maya Angelou. Twentieth Century-Fox Television, June 12, 1978. Hole-punched, held together with two metal brads; covers lightly creased, corners bent; spine fore-edge has the title written in ink; one red crayon smudge on front cover; text clean and legible. Very scarce.

Number 386 of 1,000.
This collector's edition of Stanley Kubrick's unflimed Napoleon has only been handled once by its original owner since it was purchased in 2009 and a second time for the photographs in this listing. The book is in Fine condition.
It is inside the original packaging box, which does have a small, light oil stain on the bottom of the box.
A portion of the book interior is carved out to fit several smaller books. Kubrick and a team of researchers at Oxford spent years documenting Napoleon's life. This book contains research material, correspondence from Kubrick, costume concept work, location scouting, a facsimile of the final draft of the script, and so much more.
The book also includes exclusive digital access to a database of Kubrick's complete collection of nearly 17,000 Napoleonic images.