A revelation to music culture reaching far beyond his few years with the Beatles as a band proper, John Lennon surpassed stardom to become an icon for peace. Lennon, thus, may be the most famous hippie you've ever known, and now pieces of his talent are available for your collection.
More than 100 Lennon manuscripts of short stories, poems and line drawings--produced for the two books he published, In His Own Write (1964) and A Spaniard in the Works ('65)--will be auctioned at Sotheby's in New York on June 4.
The manuscripts will be sold in 89 lots and should yield earnings between $500 and $70,000 (which includes the handwritten manuscript of The Singularge Experience of Miss Anne Duffield).
From his earliest days in the Quarrymen, Lennon was known for his literary wit. He created a handmade magazine called The Daily Howl and wrote several articles for the local music mag Mersey Beat.
Tom Maschler, literary director to Jonathan Cape, Lennon's publisher in the '60s, curated the auction.
"My relationship with John Lennon was different to those I had with all the other authors I worked with over my years as a publisher," Maschler said in a statement.
"Having seen a superb sketch of his that a mutual acquaintance showed me, I met with John to suggest that he should produce John Lennon In His Own Write. I then had to inspire in him the confidence to write and produce the drawings," he continued.
The collection will be on display at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas on March 13 and 14. The works will then travel to Sotheby's in London from March 21 to 25--returning to New York on May 28.
To wit for wits, here is Lennon on Dick Cavett.
