Poet Rupert Brooke's letters to Fiji friend sell for £9,000

Rupert Brooke's death at the start of World War One was widely mourned

Two letters written by the poet Rupert Brooke just before World War One have sold at auction for £9,058.

The letters, which had a pre-sale estimate of £4,000 to £6,000, were written to James Dixon, who appears to have hosted Brooke in Fiji.

They were bought by a UK-based trade buyer at auctioneers Cheffins in Cambridge.

Director Charles Ashton said letters by Brooke were "a rarity to the auction market".

Brooke's first collection of poetry was published in 1911

The poet, who died of septicaemia on 23 April 1915 on his way to Gallipoli, had a major breakdown in 1912.

Mr Ashton said: "We know that Brooke sailed the Pacific and spent some months in the South Seas as part of his recuperation following the collapse of his relationship with Katherine Laird Cox in 1912, and can assume that he was a guest of the Dixon family during this period."

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The first letter, dated 17 December 1913, was written from the Grand Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand, and reads: "New Zealand isn't so bad".

While there, Brooke found "a few passable and possible books" which he sent to the Dixons as gifts.

The second letter was written from Rugby on 21 July 1914, shortly before he enlisted, and in it he looks back on meeting the Dixon household "with most delight".

The letters came from the estate of the Douglas family, who were once publishers in Edinburgh.