A letter from Virginia Woolf to a friend urging him not to give up on living has sold for £1,150 ($1,713).

The lot was among the highlights of a sale at Dominic Winter Auctions in Cirencester, UK earlier today.

Virginia Woolf committed suicide a year after writing this letter

It dates to 1940 and is addressed to the politician Philip Morrell.

Woolf writes: "Indirectly I'd heard of your illness, and was wanting more news. You must take up your lodging on the ground floor, and go on living. Far too many of my friends have given that up lately."

She would commit suicide the following year.  

She also writes about the war, explaining that her home in Sussex is "exposed to raids, but in the air and with flowers, rooks, gulls, and our lovely view'

Chris Albury of Dominic Winter told the Guardian newspaper: "What I like about this letter is how it manages to say so much in so few lines, and so colourfully.

"In three short pages she conveys her genuine compassion for Philip and interest in his literary projects, her desire that everyone should live their lives, insights into her choice of candidates for biographies, and a thumbnail description of her current country life against the backdrop of the Battle of Britain."

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