_Normal 0 On 13 December 2011, Sotheby’s of New York - one of the largest auction houses in the world - will auction a rare notebook, which once belonged to Rabindranath Tagore, containing Tagore’s hand written draft manuscripts of many poems dated from the autumn of 1928. 

The notebook was given by Tagore himself to a patron for his generous financial support to the establishment of his university at Santiniketan. 

A descendant of the original patron has now offered to auction this item. The notebook is estimated to fetch between $150K-$250K

About Lot 94
© and courtesy Sothebys:

An unknown manuscript notebook of poems and songs some being heavily amended drafts of subsequently published works.

The present notebook constitutes a microcosm of the genius of India's Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian Nobel Laureate and one of the modern world's most profound and prolific writers. Tagore's writing achievements span no less than ten genres: poetry, songs, prose, novels, short stories, plays, autobiographical works, travel writings, plays and humorous essays. Though Tagore found writing poetry to be "kind of secret and forbidden delight" (letter #92 in Chhinnapatra (Torn Leaves)), he predicted that he would be best remembered through his songs. Stunning examples of both are contained in Tagore's notebook from the autumn of 1928.

Each poem and song in the notebook is a draft manuscript of a work published in a variant form. Twelve of the manuscript poems were published in a collection entitled Mohua in 1929. Mohua is a tree with flowers of the same name containing intoxicating nectar, and Tagore's poems included in this collection celebrate nature, love and life.

Two of the song lyrics in the notebook were later included in the dance drama Chitranggada, first performed in 1892 and then modified and extended in 1936. Seven of the song lyrics in the notebook were later incorporated in the musical drama Tapati published in 1929. The remaining three song lyrics in the notebook in his three-volume song collection entitled Gitabitan (Garden of Songs), published in 1931.

Heavily emended and containing Tagore's inimitable artistic deletions, one of these songs, "Mon je bale chini chini," is of particular significance:

Click here for full details on the manuscript and how to bid

Sotheby's acknowledges the generous assistance of Dr. Asok Chaudhuri in the research and cataloguing of this lot.