John Lennon schoolbook fetches US$227,000 at auction

In a handout from March 2006, a page of a school exercise book belonging to former Beatle John Lennon, is seen. (AFP/Cooper Owen/HO/File)

LONDON - A schoolbook containing some of music legend John Lennon's earliest thoughts, drawings and poems was snapped up at auction for 126,500 pounds (227,000 dollars, 183,000 euros).

The 10-page red exercise book, entitled "My Anthology", dates back to when the ex-Beatle was just 12 years old and includes an illustration of a walrus, from Lewis Carroll's poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter".

The singer-songwriter later acknowledged that the poem was the inspiration for the Beatles' 1967 song "I am the Walrus".

The lot was part of a rock memorabilia auction at London waxwork museum Madame Tussauds.

A private collector beat bids from the United States to keep the book, which had been estimated for sale at between 100,000 and 150,000 pounds, in Britain.

A spokesman for auctioneers Cooper Owen said: "We are delighted."

The earliest-known piece of Lennon memorabilia, his engraved silver christening bracelet, also went under the hammer. It fetched 27,000 pounds.

In addition, a log of a trip by the late musician to Bermuda in 1980 sold for 12,000 pounds.

Not everything was snapped up so readily.

A letter from fellow-Beatle Paul McCartney to bandmates Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr failed to reach its reserve price of 50,000 pounds.

Some experts think the note, linked to a row over who would manage the band, was the final nail in the Beatles' coffin.

Lennon was shot dead outside his New York apartment by an obsessed fan in December 1980.