Harper Lee letters up for auction ahead of Go Set a Watchman launch

An ‘exceptionally rare’ correspondence with old friend Harold Caufield will be sold next week in New York

With just over a month to go before Harper Lee publishes her second novel, Go Set a Watchman, Christie’s is preparing to auction an “exceptionally rare” collection of letters from the reclusive author, four of which date back to before the release of the book with which she would make her name, To Kill a Mockingbird.

The six typed letters, some of which are signed with comic pseudonyms such as The Prisoner of Zenda, were written by Lee to her old friend, New York architect Harold Caufield. Christie’s, which will auction the collection on 12 June in New York and expects it to make up to $250,000 (£163,000), said that the documents were exceptionally rare, with “no other material of this early date – and certainly not with such revealing and personal content – [coming] to auction in the last 40 years”.

Related: Harper Lee: a late twist in the tale of an adored writer | profile

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