Peake performance expected at collection sale

A large collection of works by British author Mervyn Peake, who wrote his famous Gormenghast trilogy while living in Sark, have gone on sale.

The collection, worth at least £100,000, is being sold by Kent-based bookseller Michael Kemp.

Peake was born in China in 1911 to British parents but returned to England whilst still at school.

In the 1940s he moved to Sark where he wrote his famous trilogy. His book Mr Pye was also set in the island.

Mr Kemp said it took 30 years to build the collection, which he began after being given the Gormenghast trilogy for his 18th birthday.

"What you have to do in a collection is get as close as possible to the author, so the first edition, his first view of the story," he explained.

"I am a fanatical completist, it means that regardless of cost if something exists by Mervyn Peake I have to have it," he said.