Rare book collection at auction

People have travelled across the globe to view the collection

A collection of rare books and letters is expected to fetch more than half a million pounds when it is auctioned.

Items on sale include first editions of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

Two Book of Hours from the 15th Century could fetch up to £25,000 each while a first edition Charles Darwin's Origin of Species (1859) could go for £50,000.

The sale takes place on Thursday at Duke's Auctioneers in Dorchester.

People have travelled from Italy, America and Holland to view the sale, which is made up from the private collections of the late Sir Harry Newton and the late Californian manuscript collector Jean Preston.

TE Lawrence

Guy Schwinge, of Duke's auctioneers, said Sir Henry was "lucky to be buying at a time when the supply of rare books was abundant".

Other items on sale include several letters from TE Lawrence (of Arabia), including one where he discusses his love of motorbikes.

A pigskin bound copy of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer from 1896 with wood engravings could fetch £60,000.

Meanwhile, a first edition of The Newton Euclid from 1482 could sell for £40,000 and a first edition of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principa Mathematica is expected to make £40,000.