France pulls Marquis de Sade erotic novel from auction

De Sade’s 1785 work, written in tiny script on 33 pieces of scroll while he was imprisoned in the Bastille, was due to be auctioned on Wednesday as one of the prize items in a vast collection of notes, letters and musical scores being sold off.

Tolkien Christmas letters to his children to go on show

The letters start in 1920 after Tolkien’s three-year old son John asked him who Father Christmas was and where he lived.