Make them an offer they can’t refuse, and a massive collection of The Godfather author Mario Puzo’s papers can be yours.

The 45-box archive, which includes multiple drafts with handwritten revisions to both the novel and the screenplay, is being sold by Boston-based RR Auction on February 18.

Mario Puzo in 1996
Mario Puzo in 1996 (Marty Lederhandler/AP)

The collection covering Mario’s entire career includes manuscripts of his early books and late-career screenplays, and even his old typewriter. But there is no doubt that its thousands of pages of Godfather-related documents are the highlight.

They shed light on the creative process, including the back and forth between Mario and director Francis Ford Coppola as they collaborated on the screenplay.

“This is one of the neatest things I have ever seen in my job,” Tricia Eaton, RR’s director of speciality catalogues, said.

Sofia Coppola in The Godfather Part III
Sofia Coppola in The Godfather Part III (AP)

The scripts include some of Mario’s own scribbles and thoughts on what the American Film Institute called the second most famous movie quote of all-time, Marlon Brando, as Don Vito Corleone, saying: “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse”.

(The most famous movie quote was judged to be: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” from Gone With The Wind.)

In one manuscript, Mario makes a change to the original line “He’s a businessman. I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse”, scratching out the phrase “He’s a businessman” and scrawling in: “I’ll reason with him.”

In another, Mario intensifies the famous line’s ominous finality by crossing out a line of dialogue immediately following it.

Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone (PA Archive)

“It seems that Puzo and Coppola together simplified a lot of the dialogue from the book for the screen,” Tricia said. “The way it came out in the movie makes it a little more like everyday gangster slang.”

Another fascinating piece of the collection is a letter from Mario to Marlon dated March 1970. Mario envisaged Marlon playing Corleone in the 1972 movie, but it almost never happened. Apparently thinking that Marlon was out of the project, Mario wrote the letter expressing his disappointment.

“I’m sorry I wasted your time,” Mario wrote. “I still think it was a good idea. And thanks for taking the trouble to call and talk to me.”

A letter from author Mario Puzo to Marlon Brando
A letter from author Mario Puzo to Marlon Brando reading “I think you’re the only actor who can play the Godfather”, auctioned in 2005 (Christie’s)

RR executive vice president Robert Livingstone said the collection is expected to sell for at least US4400,000 (£278,000) at auction.

The archive is being offered by Mario’s five children. Anthony Puzo, who was in his late teens when his father was writing The Godfather, says the collection is full of memories, but he and his siblings are selling so it can be properly cared for.

“Dad loved to live the high life, even when he couldn’t afford it, and he was often in debt. He always used to say he’d be all right once he wrote his best-seller,” Anthony said.