Collection of original James Bond screenplays, film scripts, and storyboards for sale

The most extensive collection of James Bond film screenplays, film scripts and storyboards is now offered by Peter Harrington's in London for £375,000.

The unique collection features James Bond film scripts, screenplays, manuscripts, storyboards, costume designs, publicity material, production notes; from the first draft script of Dr. No in 1962 through to the final legal screenplay of SPECTRE.

In addition to the unparalleled series of items relating to films from EON Productions, the collection includes significant material from other film studios, including Fleming's own James Bond of the Secret Service, Casino Royale from 1967, Never Say Never Again, and Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.

Highlights from the collection include:

- Wolf Mankowitz & Richard Maibaum's earliest draft screenplay for the first Bond film Dr. No, released in 1962.

Wolf Mankowitz & Richard Maibaum's earliest draft screenplay for the first Bond film Dr. No

- Storyboard sheets titled "Bond Pursues Vesper Car Chase" from the 2006 Casino Royale film, visualising the memorable motor-pursuit through Montenegro of Le Chiffre by Bond, with Daniel Craig clearly sketched.

- Screenplay for Warhead, an unrealized Bond film written between 1976-1978 that has been described by Schøyen as "what would have been the best James Bond film up to that point, had it been produced".

Screenplay for Warhead, an unrealized Bond film written between 1976-1978

- M. G. Carter's unique colour Warhead set design, showing an underground chamber inside the Statue of Liberty, hiding mechanical sharks with nuclear warheads ready to be dispatched into the sewers of New York.

'Warhead' set design, with robot hammerhead mechanical shark with nuclear warhead, in the base of the Statue Of Liberty

- Extensive material and correspondence concerning the creation of the film Thunderball (1965) an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming released in 1961, which in turn was based on an unrealized film treatment which Fleming had worked on with scriptwriter Jack Whittingham and film producer Kevin McClory between 1958-1960. The novel Thunderball was subject to a famous copyright dispute in 1961, when Whittingham and McClory took action against Fleming for not crediting them in the novel.

- A carbon copy from Ian Fleming's office of the annex to a second draft film treatment written by Fleming entitled James Bond of the Secret Service, in which the character of James Bond is outlined in detail, describing Bond as "... a blunt instrument wielded by a Government Department. He is quiet, hard, ruthless, sardonic, fatalistic. Audiences will tend to dislike him... In his relationship with women he shows the same qualities as he does in his job. He likes gambling, golf and fast motorcars. He has two suits, single-breasted... His guns are a Barreta (sic)... He also uses a Smith & Wesson. His car is an open Bentley..."

James Bond of the Secret Service

- Hand-drawn and hand-coloured watercolours by costume artist Gerald Moulin for the costume designs for "Commander James Bond" in full Naval Commander dress (Tomorrow Never Dies) and "Xenia Onatopp" in her disguise as a French Navy helicopter pilot (GoldenEye).

Costume design Naval Commander (Tomorrow Never Dies)

- Autographed screenplay of Bond 18 (released as Tomorrow Never Dies), signed by "Bond" (Pierce Brosnan), "Carver" (Jonathan Pryce), "M" (Dame Judi Dench), "Q" (Desmond Llewellyn) and Raymond Benson who has additionally inscribed "I wrote the novelisation".

- Stunt co-ordinator Gerard Moreno's copy of a production-used shooting script of License Revoked (released as License to Kill after a survey showed that a significant percentage of the potential audience did not understand the term "revoked").

- An original vintage studio-issued press pack, issued by Warner Brothers in 1983 for Never Say Never Again. The pack contains cast and credit sheets, production information, biographies of the main characters as well as a full set of 17 black and white publicity stills housed in a colour-printed card folder.

- A signed original concept drawing by production designer Syd Cain, illustrating a scene from GoldenEye featuring the Russian train, as seen near the end of the film, when the officers take off in the helicopter, leaving James Bond and Natalya Simonova to perish in a fiery train explosion. Sydney B. Cain's career in the film business spanned some 50 years and he remains best known for his work in various design capacities on the 007 series, from Dr. No (1962) to GoldenEye (1995).

This collection is from the significant Ian Fleming collection of Martin Schøyen (b.1940), with his bookplate. Schøyen's private collection of manuscripts, which spans all cultures and all time periods, is one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind.

Peter Harrington is one of the leading rare book firms in the world. The company offered a £2.5m James Bond Book Collection for sale in 2019.

For more info and enquiries, visit Peter Harrington.

All photos © Peter Harrington