The third volume of Ray Harryhausen – Master of the Majicks by Mike Hankin, with a focus on the British films, is now available for pre-order through October 3. The Archive Editions website describes this volume with the following:

Foreword by Caroline Munro
Preface by Guillermo del Toro

From his Preface to Volume 3 —

“There is no way to overstate the importance of these books. [This book] is, simply, the most perfect book about Harryhausen ever made. This is the book that you dreamt of having as a child and the only gateway, I guarantee you, to regain that long-gone thrill you had when you where eight years old and you cracked open the pages of the latest issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland. Perhaps more importantly, this book performs one truly magic trick- one that we don’t experience often enough: it makes you want to go out, immediately, and rewatch every single one of the the chronicled films and, if at all possible, go and shoot a film yourself. In summation: It makes you fall in love with cinema all over again.”

— Guillermo del Toro, Director of Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth

Written and produced over the past 10 years with Ray Harryhausen’s cooperation and support, the complete 3-volume definitive 295,000-word career/biography features interviews with Ray and his colleagues and is profusely illustrated with several hundred rare photographs, artwork, and illustrations (many of which have never been previously published).

Chapters in Volume 3 extensively cover:
The Three Worlds of Gulliver, Mysterious Island, Jason and the Argonauts, First Men “In” the Moon, One Million Years B.C., The Valley of Gwangi, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, and Clash of the Titans.

Interview subjects/contributors to Volume 3 include numerous actors, directors, and technicians: producer Charles H. Schneer, John Phillip Law, Caroline Munro, Andrew Faulds, Martha Hyer, Sam Wanamaker, Gordon Hessler, Patrick Wayne, Taryn Power, Jane Seymour, Gila Golan (star of Valley of Gwangi, and her first interview in over 40 years), Colin Arthur, Lionel Jeffries, Ian Scoones, Gary Raymond, voiceover artist Nikki van der Zyl (who revoiced Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C.), Martine Beswick, Forrest J Ackerman, Wilkie Cooper, Enzo Musumeci-Greco, Jason and the Argonauts title artist James Wines (his first interview about his work on Jason), Richard Green, Nathan Juran, Kerwin Mathews, Neil Pettigrew, and many others, some of whom have since passed away.

Stills and other material provided by numerous private collections, including considerable material that has never been seen in print before (including in Ray Harryhausen’s own books).

PLUS—

* A selection of photos of Ray’s models in 3D! (one pair of glasses provided with each copy)
* Reproductions of advertising art & posters from different countries
* Compilation of reviews and story synopses
* Filmographies of key cast and crew
* The music for the films in this volume, including a page from Laurence Rosenthal’s original manuscript for his score of the Medusa scene from Clash of the Titans
* A selection of Harryhausen collectibles pertaining to the films in this volume
* 640 pages, 125,000 word text (chapters, filmographies, reviews, and more)
* Approximately 3,600 images—photos, artwork, posters, technical diagrams and other illustrations, in Spectacular Color and “Glorious Black-and-White”
* Hardcover: dark brown imitation leather with title stamped in gold foil

Sample layouts for this volume can be viewed here.

Full color dust jacket
Heavy 70 pound semi-gloss paper stock
Overall dimensions 9″ x 11-1/2″ (22.86cm x 29.21cm)
Weight: 6 pounds (2.75kg)

The first volume released in this series, Volume 2, can be ordered through the TheoFantastique Store. Also see TheoFantastique’s previous interview with author Mike Hankin here.

Regular price is $84.95
Special pre-order discount: $74.95 through Archive Editions.
Offer good only from now through Sunday, October 3.