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Friday, June 14, 2019, 18:20
Leonard Cohen's love letters fetch US$876,000 at auction
By Reuters
Friday, June 14, 2019, 18:20 By Reuters

In this Oct 3, 2012  photo, Canadian singer Leonard Cohen performs at the Palau Sant Jordi hall in Barcelona. (JOSEP LAGO / AFP)

LOS ANGELES — A collection of more than 50 love letters written by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen to the woman who inspired So Long, Marianne has sold for US$876,000, with many going for more than five times their pre-sale estimates, Christie's auction house said on Thursday. 

The top letter, in which Leonard Cohen wrote in December 1960 about being "alone with the vast dictionaries of language," fetched US$56,250

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 US$56,250 compared to an original high estimate of US$10,000. 

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A 1964 letter, in which Cohen wrote "I am famous but empty," went for US$35,000, Christie's said. 

Cohen and the Norwegian-born Ihlen met on the Greek island of Hydra in 1960 and she became the inspiration for several of his best-known songs, including Bird on a Wire, Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye, and the 1967 track So Long, Marianne. 

In this Oct 21, 2011 photo, Canadian poet and singer Leonard Cohen receives from Spain´s Prince Felipe (right) the 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters, during the Prince of Asturias awards ceremony in Oviedo. (MIGUEL RIOPA / AFP)

Ihlen died of leukemia in Oslo in July 2016 at age 81. Cohen, who was also suffering from leukemia, died in November 2016 at the age of 82. 

The letters were sold by Ihlen's family. The buyers were not revealed. 

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The top lot in the five-day online auction was an Italian bronze bell dating from the 15th or 16th century that hung in the Hydra home that Cohen and Ihlen once shared. It realized US$81,250 compared to a pre-sale estimate of up to US$12,000. 

The bell is believed to have inspired the lines, "There is a crack, a crack in everything" in Cohen's 1992 release Anthem.

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