Five hand-written letters and a telegram from W. B. Yeats made a total of £5,300 at last month's auction in Drums of Malahide. The correspondence was originally sent to journalist John McGrath during the last decade of the 19th century and the first year of the present one. The papers were discovered during the clearance of recentlyclosed opticians Murray McGrath on Dublin's Duke Street; two of the letters were purchased by the National Library of Ireland.

In the same sale, a Victorian part D-end solid Honduras mahogany dining table with three leaves made £2,250, a William IV sofa and two almost-matching chairs fetched £2,200 and a Mildred Anne Butler oil sold for £650.