More than 100 photographs of screen legend Marilyn Monroe have been published in a new book that shows the glamorous star in unguarded and intimate moments.

The photographs, shot by John Vachon while on assignment for LOOK magazine, were taken in the Canadian Rockies in August 1953 while Monroe was filming "River of No Return" with Robert Mitchum.

The photographs were never published by the magazine and have since surfaced stored away at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

"Marilyn, her legacy is in pictures, whether moving pictures or still photography of which there are thousands upon thousands. But I don't think we really know who she truly was. I think John Vachon got close, but I don't think we still know who she truly was," said publisher Christopher Kuppig.

Kuppig spent over a year researching the project before publishing the book, entitled "Marilyn: August 1953: The Lost Look Photos."

"They're staged in that the studio and the Marilyn publicity people were there as well as the LOOK editor from the west coast, so it was all very much managed. But what's different is that Vachon got beyond the facade of Marilyn, he got beyond the celebrity smiles and, you know, the sexy poses and he captured her as a real person," Kuppig said.

The pictures show Monroe snuggling with her then fiance and with crutches beside a pool after she injured herself.

"It was a very pivotal time for her. Joe DiMaggio was courting her and they were married within months after these pictures were taken so he was there to basically pursue the relationship," explained Kuppig.

Monroe died in August 1962, aged 36, among her best-known movies are "The Seven Year Itch," "Some Like It Hot" and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."