N.p. [London]: N.p., N.d. [1969]

119 mimeographed pp., bound in black stiff paper wrappers secured with two split pins to left edge, title window to front panel. ‘EMMA BOVARY’ inked to leading edge of text block, and ‘RYAN’S DAUGHTER’ to the lower edge. Leading edge of oversized wrappers a little worn, otherwise a fine and very well preserved copy.

EARLY DRAFT SCREENPLAY OF THE FILM WHICH WOULD BECOME RYAN’S DAUGHTER (1970), HERE STILL TITLED EMMA BOVARY. CHRISTOPHER MILES’S COPY, WITH HIS HANDWRITTEN OWNERSHIP SIGNATURE AND ADDRESS TO TITLE PAGE.

Robert Bolt [1924-1995] was the screenwriter for Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), A Man For All Seasons (1966, from his own play) -- and Ryan’s Daughter (1970), which began life as a straight adaptation of Flaubert’s novel Emma Bovary (Michel Lèvy Frères, 1857). The script was reworked at the suggestion of David Lean: the Bovary story was transposed to rural Ireland during the First World War and, as Ryan’s Daughter, was filmed by Lean with a cast led by Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles (Robert Bolt’s wife, and Christopher Miles’ brother), John Mills and Trevor Howard. The resulting three-hour epic received a critical mauling on release but was a box office success and received four Oscar nominations, winning for Best Supporting Actor (Mills) and Best Cinematography (Freddie Young, who also shot Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965) for Lean, winning Oscars for both).

This copy of the early, Bovary days of the screenplay which was to become Ryan’s Daughter belonged to the film director Christopher Miles, whose career began in 1963 with the Oscar- nominated short film The Six-Sided Triangle, which starred Sarah Miles, Christopher’s sister. He went on to direct D.H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970), Jean Genet’s The Maids (1974) and the D.H. Lawrence biopic Priest of Love (1981), an early screen success for Ian McKellen. Miles -- Robert Bolt’s brother-in-law -- has written his name and address to the top right of the screenplay’s title page. The copy probably started life in the office of Peggy Ramsay, Bolt’s agent, where ‘EMMA BOVARY’ would have been inked to the leading edge for ease of reference. The ‘RYAN’S DAUGHTER’ inked to the lower edge (in a different hand and different ink) is likely to have been added later by Miles.

An excellent family association, and a key stage in the development of Lean’s epic film.