John Lennon's ranting letter to McCartney sells for $30,000

A picture of Lennon's letter to the McCartney's

An angry letter from John Lennon to Paul and his then-wife Linda McCartney following the breakup of The Beatles has sold at auction for just under $30,000.

Boston-based RR Auctions estimated the letter would fetch at least $20,000 when they announced the listing recently. And today they’ve revealed it sold for $29,843.

The two-page typed letter with hand-written annotations by Lennon shows the extent of his bitterness after the break-up of the Beatles.

The draft letter is believed to date from 1971 and was said to be a response to criticism that Lennon had received from Linda about his decision to not publicly announce his departure from the band.

It reads: “I was reading your letter and wondering what middle aged cranky Beatle fan wrote it.

“I resisted looking at the last page to find out. I kept thinking who is it, Queenie? Stuart’s mother? Clive Epstein’s wife? Alan Williams? What the hell – it’s Linda! Who do you think we/you are?

“Linda, if you don’t care what I say shut up! Let Paul write or whatever.”

Other items included in the sale were a Led Zeppelin debut album inscribed to the founding member of the James Gang which sold for $28,850 and a signed Beatles program from 1963 which fetched $16,541.

Lennon's letter to the McCartney's page 1

Lennon's letter to the McCartney's page 1

Lennon's letter to the McCartney's page 2

Lennon's letter to the McCartney's page 2

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Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.