Original books, furniture and clothing once belonging to best-selling children’s author Enid Blyton are to go to auction in Ilkley.

Among the lots going under the hammer at Hartley’s Auctioneers on Wednesday, September 15, will be the original typescripts of Famous Five, Secret Seven and Noddy books, original watercolour illustrations and fur coats embroidered with the author’s initials.

Also in the auction is a handwritten letter from Enid Blyton, sent to a Miss Joan Gregory, of Bramhope, in 1965, discussing the difficulties of a child having her work published.

The possessions come from the estate of the writer’s eldest daughter and long-time Ilkley resident, Gillian Baverstock, who died three years ago at the age of 75.

Mrs Baverstock spent many years teaching at a private primary school.

The executors have instructed Hartley’s in the disposal of her personal effects.

Many of the auction lots are estimated to sell for hundreds of pounds. Items expected to fetch the most at the sale include a signed original painting by illustrator Treyer Meredith Evans, for the dust jacket of The Christmas Book (1944), with an estimated sale price of £600 to £800.

The original typescript of Enid Blyton’s book The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage, expected to fetch £300 to £500, includes a handwritten note from the author, explaining that she did not write her books by hand, but liked to type them “straight out of my head”. Born in 1897 in East Dulwich, South London, Enid Blyton wrote books which have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide.