Leonard Cohen and Marianne Ihlen died within months of each other, both of leukemia in 2016. The archive of letters from Cohen to Marianne Ihlen chronicles their 1960s love affair and the blossoming of Cohen's career from struggling poet to famous musician. The top letter, in which Cohen wrote in December 1960 about being "alone with the vast dictionaries of language," fetched $US56,250 compared to an original high estimate of $US10,000. A 1964 letter, in which Cohen wrote "I am famous but empty," went for $US35,000, Christie's auction house said on Thursday. Cohen, who was also suffering from leukemia, died in November 2016 at the age of 82.

Source: Otago Daily Times June 14, 2019 00:33 UTC