A LETTER from Lakeland poet William Wordsworth could make up to £8,000 in a London saleroom next week.

The rare piece of postal history is included in the sale by Spink and Son which is being held from Wednesday to Friday, October 26 to 28 (LOT 3041).

It is dated December 19 in 1840 and bears a two pence blue stamp – one of the world’s first stamps issued that year with the penny black.

The pre-sale estimate is £6,000 to £8,000.

The stamp is cancelled with a a red Maltese Cross and is on a printed invoice headed "postage stamps" sent from William Wordsworth, to Mrs. Hannah Backhouse, Postmistress of Kendal.

William Wordsworth lived from 1770 to 1850 and was Poet Laureate from 1843.

He was distributor of revenue stamps for legal and official documents for the county of Westmorland from 1812 to 1842, with an office in Ambleside.

A Lake District violin is included in the sale by Gardiner Houlgate, at Corsham, on Monday, October 24.

It was made by Bert Smith, of East View, Coniston, in 1964 and is expected to sell for £800 to £1,200.

The Wednesday, October 26, sale by Lyon and Turnball (LOT 155) of Edinburgh expects £300 to £500 for a carved mahogany fire screen of the early 20th century by Kendal craftsman Arthur Simpson, who lived from 1857 to 1922.

The Thursday, October 27, sale at Penzance, Cornwall, by David Lay (LOT 95) has a watercolour of Windermere by Alwyn Crawshaw which should make £50 to £100.

The Gardiner Houlgate sale at Corsham on Wednesday to Friday, October 26 to 28, includes a clock which was presented as a gift by Coniston writer, artist and social visionary John Ruskin.

Bids of £200 to £300 are expected for the small French boulle balloon mantel clock with a movement signed Potonie, of Paris.

A label inside the back door is inscribed in ink: “Given by John Ruskin to Thomas Richmond, a memento of Denmark Hill, Oct 19 th, 1872.” (LOT 1507)