Books from one of the most eccentric collections in the country are being sold to settle some of the collector's debts.
The Sotheby's auction next month will include around 600 books, mainly on witchcraft and the occult: a tiny part of the vast library of the late artist Robert Lenkiewicz.
It includes a 17th century spotter's guide to witches and demons, by Joseph Glanvill. His Saducismus Triumphatus was a desperate attempt to convince sceptics that ghosts and demons were all too real, and included the first-hand evidence of one Elizabeth Styles that the devil had appeared to her "in the shape of a handsome Man and after of a black Dog. Then he promised her money, and that she should live gallantly, and have the pleasure of the world for 12 years, if she would with her blood sign his paper ... "
Lenkiewicz died last year, 10 years after the artist faked his death to see what people would think. He was both a source of pride and civic anguish to his adopted Plymouth home, where his remarkable studio in the Barbican served as a doss house for the tramps he befriended and painted, along with portraits of celebrities and of all-too-recognisable local dignitaries stark naked.
His library included large sections on witchcraft and magic, the occult, religion, and sex - a subject which particularly interested the artist, who had at least 11 known children, including two by his three marriages, but claimed to have fathered at least 15.
The trustees of the Robert Lenkiewicz foundation hope to preserve the studio as a gallery and research centre.
