Drawings, poems and prose created by John Lennon for two books going to auction

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Drawings, poems and prose created by John Lennon for his books “In His Own Write” and “A Spaniard in the Works” are coming to auction.

The books’ British publisher, Tom Maschler, has owned the material for a half century. Sotheby’s is selling it on Wednesday.

The auction house says it’s the largest private collection of Lennon’s work to come to the market.

Among the highlights in the 89-piece collection is a cartoon of a boy with six birds. It appeared in “A Spaniard in the Works,” published in 1965.

The drawing was used 30 years later as the cover for the Beatles’ release of “Free as a Bird,” written by Lennon in 1977. It has a pre-sale estimate of $12,000 to $15,000.