Johnson's words up for £2,500

A small fragment of the handwriting of Lichfield's favourite son Samuel Johnson is expected to fetch up to £2,500 when it is auctioned.

At the same sale at Sotheby's in London, a first edition copy of his dictionary is set to sell for up to £9,000.

Sotheby's experts said the example of Johnson's handwriting is of "considerable rarity".

It is just two sentences long - 41 words - and could fetch more than £60 per word.

The curator at Dr Johnson's Birthplace Museum in Lichfield, Graeme Clarke said: "I am not surprised people are prepared to pay that sort of money, I think it is a very good buy - £60 a word represents very good value.

"It shows that there is still a very big interest in Dr Johnson throughout the country."

The words were written towards the end of Dr Johnson's life and are from his monumental 10 volumes Lives Of The Most Eminent English Poets, published between 1779 and 1781.

They are an excerpt from an entry for the poet Edmund Waller.

The auction on December 7 will also feature a first edition copy of Dr Johnson's Dictionary. It cost just £4.50 when it was first published in 1755.