An archive of author Mario Puzo's papers, including multiple drafts of The Godfather novel and movie screenplay, has sold at auction for $625,000.

RR Auction of Boston said the 45-box archive sold to a bidder from the US who wished to remain anonymous.

The Godfather material included thousands of pages, notes and drafts from multiple versions of the novel manuscript and the screenplay.

The papers shed light on Puzo's character, scene and dialogue development, as well as his collaboration with director Francis Ford Coppola, who brought the fictional Italian-American mob family's story to the big screen.

Many of the drafts are marked with Puzo's own handwriting.

His children put the collection up for auction.