A playful, lovesick letter from a young John Lennon to his future wife Cynthia—complete with a complaint about Paul McCartney's snoring—is hitting the auction block, offering a rare glimpse into the Beatle's private world before fame. The intimate handwritten note is expected to fetch up to $52,000 at Christie's. The letter, written over five nights in April 1962 during the Beatles' Hamburg residency, offers a glimpse into Lennon's early 20s and his relationship with Powell, whom he would marry later that year, the Guardian reports.
In the letter, Lennon expresses affection and longing, writing, "I love love love you and I'm missing you like mad." He also shares everyday frustrations, complaining about McCartney's snoring and joking about not wanting McCartney's then-girlfriend, Dot Rhone, to move in with Cynthia. "Imagine having her there all the time when we were in bed—and imagine Paul coming all the time," Lennon writes. The letter also mentions former bandmate Stuart Sutcliffe, who died in Hamburg earlier that month, and his girlfriend, photographer Astrid Kirchherr. "I haven't seen Astrid since the day we arrived I've thought of going to see her but I would be so awkward," Lennon writes.
Lennon and Powell met at Liverpool College of Art and married in August 1962. Their son, Julian, was born in April 1963, just as Beatlemania was taking off. The couple divorced in 1968. "There's something quite poignant about the giddily, playfully smutty nature of the letter," Thomas Venning at Christie's tells CNN. (One line: I wish I was on the way to your flat with the Sunday papers and chocies and a throbber.) "It shows us Lennon and Cynthia as two young people in love, and gives us a wonderfully carefree, unguarded view of Lennon in particular," he adds. The listing notes: "In two places Cynthia Lennon has cut out phrases or sentences, presumably as censorship: the first follows the phrase 'where are you my little ...'" (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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