LONDON, July 8 (Xinhuanet) -- A love letter sent by Irish writer James Joyce to his wife Nora Barnacle was sold in London on Thursday at 240,800 pounds (446,200 US dollars), the highest price ever reached for a 20th century autographed letter, Sotheby's said.     

    

(Photo:CRIENGLISH.com/bbc.com)

 The erotic letter was written in the winter of 1909 after Joyce's return to Dublin without Nora for the first time since their elopement from Dublin to Trieste, Italy five years earlier.

    The letter, which was found by chance hidden between the pages of an old book, is said to be remarkable because of Joyce's hatredof obscene jokes and swearing.

    The Sotheby's said the final price, offered by an anonymous bidder, was four times its top pre-sale estimate.

    "The sale was extraordinarily well-attended by all the major collectors," said Peter Selley, Sotheby's English literature specialist.

    "The high price achieved for the erotic letter from Joyce to Nora Barnacle fully reflects the importance of the couple's relationship," he said.

    "It was their relationship that was the source of so much of Joyce's creativity, and this is clearly evident throughout Joyce'swork, especially in (his novel) Ulysses," a book viewed by many asthe most important novel in 20th century English literature, he said.

    Together with other letters and Joyce memorabilia, including one of the earliest presentation copies of Ulysses and Joyce's ownproof-sheets for the abandoned 1910 edition of his book Dubliners,the sale reached 721,630 pounds (about 1.33 million dollars). Enditem