In our July/August 2007 issue, Dan Gregory, of Between the Covers Rare Books, explored some of the odder paths that printed stories have taken to the silver screen. As an online exclusive to supplement his essay, “Hollywood Adaptation: How a Christmas Card, a Poem, a Time Magazine Article, and Even a Few Novels Inspired Some of Hollywood’s Greatest Films,” we have compiled a list of the collectable books connected to the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest movies of all time.

This list, compiled by Dan and the editor of Fine Books & Collections magazine, contains our recommendations for the best collectable book from each film. This is a judgment call based on availability of the books and the preference most collectors show for American hardcover books (after all, these are American films). In most cases, the title we’ve picked is the first book publication, but not always. For example, for the 1931 film adaptation of Frankenstein, we list the photoplay edition published to coincide with the film, rather than Mary Shelley’s 1818 first edition. The photoplay edition is illustrated with stills from the film and has Boris Karloff’s famous interpretation of the monster on the cover. That book, we think, is a more attractive and realistic goal for film book collectors. But reasonable people (and certainly booksellers) may disagree.

Definitions: A source book is a book adapted into a movie. A tie-in is a promotional book issued to coincide with the film. It may be a reissue of a previously published book or a novelization based on, written alongside, or inspired by the screenplay. A later screenplay is a published version of the screenplay issued after the movie came out. A later book is similar to a tie-in, but published long after the original film.