A scolding letter written by John Lennon to Linda and Paul McCartney is expected to fetch upwards of $20,000 at auction in Boston, Massachusetts, though it's not clear who the seller is. The closing bid will take place on Thursday (November 17th 2016).

Paul McCartneyPaul McCartney gets scolded by John Lennon in historic letter

The letter consists of two pages written both by hand and on a typewriter with a Bag Productions Inc. letterhead, and is an intimate reflection of the acrimony between the two Beatles and McCartney's wife in the wake of the bands split. It's estimated to have been written around 1971; two years after his marriage to Yoko Ono and a year after the Beatles disbanded.

It appears to be in response to a letter written to John by Linda, who seems to have attacked the singer about a few things, including announcing his departure from the band. 'PAUL and [Allen] Klein both spent the day persuading me it was better not to say anything', he wrote. 'So, get that into your petty little perversion of a mind, Mrs. McCartney - the c***s asked me to keep quiet about it.'

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He also addressed the issue of negative treatment towards him and his wife since they got together. 'I hope you realize what s**t you and the rest of my 'kind and unselfish' friends laid on Yoko and me, since we've been together', he wrote, though he signed off with 'inspite of it all, love to you both, from us two'. He also added a handwritten postscript reading: 'P.S. about addressing your letter just to me - STILL...!!!'

The letter was first referenced in 'The John Lennon Letters', edited by Hunter Davies and published in 2012. The public have been aware of such letters for a long time, but Paul McCartney has dismissed them as being a reflection of the drug that Lennon was taking at the time, rather than of the tension in their relationship.