Rare Tagore Manuscript to Go Under Hammer in New York

A rare notebook, unheard of before, belonging to Nobel laureate and Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore will be auctioned in New York in December.

The valuable manuscript is expected to fetch upto $250,000 when it goes under the hammer Dec. 13, according to Sotheby's New York auction house.

The manuscript is reportedly in good condition and covered in red cloth. It contains 12 hand-written Bengali poems and 12 lyrics for Bengali songs. Some of the works are actually drafts of the poet's work that were published later, said the auction house officials.

Incidentally, this is the first of its kind auction in 25 years connected to Tagore who became the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize in 1913, according to Marsha Malinowski, the auction house's senior manuscript specialist.

A poet, novelist, playwright, composer and artist, Tagore enjoyed world fame through his works of art. The Gitanjali author presented the 152-page notebook to a family friend in the mid 1930s, the auction house informed, saying that the manuscript reflects the way Tagore worked.

It really is a microcosm of what Tagore did best -- his poetry, what he loved and what he loved to do, Malinowski was quoted as saying by Reuters.

To have bits of art with corrections, to have songs with lyrics, and emendations all done in such an artistic form makes for an amazing package and speaks to what he was all about, she added.

An Indian by birth, Tagore was also a prolific painter. Many of his paintings have fetched strong prices at auctions in London last year. Tagore's 150th birth anniversary is observed this year.