Back on August 11, 2001, St. Martin's Press published Planet of the Apes Revisited: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the Classic Science Fiction Saga, by Joe Russo, Larry Landsman, and Edward Gross. The book is a must-have for Apes fans, and is still, IMO, the definitive book about the series. Later books borrowed from this book, and not always with proper credits.

Mark recently discovered the original proposal for the Revisited book, which you can view and download below. Thanks to Joe for permission to post the scans.

Unfortunately, the book is long out-of-print, but used copies can be picked up pretty cheaply from Amazon, eBay, and ABE.

If you're on Facebook, you should check out the Planet of the Apes Revisited Facebook Page run by Joe Russo.

Click on an image to view a larger version, or use the links to download high-res versions.

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Here's what Joe had to say about this on Facebook:

In 1983, over 35 years ago, I finally acted on the nagging desire I had to research and document the making of the Planet of the Apes film series in book form. I invited the one person I knew who shared my enthusiasm for Apes,a local fan named Larry Landsman whom I had met in 1974, and invited him to be my research partner. Together we laid the ground work for what would become the first major articles, and the full length book on the series, Planet of the Apes Revisited.

Long before writer Ed Gross became involved, the first idea I had at the outset of our research phase was to create a "calling card"...an impressive proposal to illustrate to potential publishers and people we would be asking to contribute interviews that we this was a "serious" project and not just two fans wasting their valuable time. I guess the idea worked because it opened all the doors we needed opened...except with a publisher. (The full story of the 17-year road to getting published is told in the introduction chapter).

The link below shows the 8 1/2 by 11" glossy color pamphlet I had printed, and that we sent to the cast and crew members to obtain their cooperation. By January of 1984, Larry and I were aboard a flight to Los Angeles as invited guests to the former home of producer Arthur P. Jacobs where we stayed for a week, sleeping on couches in the "film room" where Arthur and his wife Natalie Trundy would project motion pictures at parties for the Hollywood elite. We could write a book just on that trip alone. Thanks for your interest, and to Hunter Goatley for creating the link on his website. (JR)