The typewritten screenplay for Sergei Bondarchuk's directorial debut, "Destiny of a Man," will headline an auction at the Litfund auction house on August 6, the auction house's press service said.
The screenplay was based on the story of the same name by writer Mikhail Sholokhov. This copy comes from the archive of Dmitry Pisarevsky, editor-in-chief of the magazine Soviet Screen, and contains numerous handwritten corrections and additions by the director along with his personal signature.
A Personal Goal for Bondarchuk
Litfund said making the film became a life goal for Bondarchuk. Sholokhov, who initially doubted Bondarchuk as the right director, approved him after meeting him in person. The starting bid for the screenplay is set at 100,000 rubles.
Other Rare Items on Sale
The auction will also feature Pavel Sumarokov's "Leisures of a Crimean Judge" with a starting bid of 1.2 million rubles, and a naval charter document priced at about 800,000 rubles. Other lots include a 17th-century map of "Tartaria," a hand-printed 1932 collection by Alexei Kruchenykh limited to 10 copies, fables by Ivan Krylov, a Vladimir Mayakovsky poem with photomontages by Alexander Rodchenko, a signed Anna Akhmatova collection, and a censored 19th-century almanac linked to Ivan Panaev and Nikolai Nekrasov.
