Freddie Mercury's Lyric-Filled Notebook Heading to Auction

Freddie Mercury's notebook from the last three years of his life, featuring nearly 20 songs written for the band's The Miracle and Innuendo, will hit the auction block in the U.K. Bonhams will offer the item as part of an entertainment memorabilia auction that's slated to begin June 29th. The notebook is estimated to sell between $70,000 and $100,000, The Guardian reports.

The personal notebook, which the Queen singer kept from 1988 to 1990, includes handwritten lyrics for Queen cuts like "Too Much Love Will Kill You" and the "The Show Must Go On," the final song on Mercury's last album with Queen. Nineteen songs in total, in either full form or fragments, were penned in the notebook before Mercury's death in 1991.

"It is a poignant record of that period, but it also struck me that it is a testament to the creative energy in the band," Bonhams consultant Stephen Maycock told The Guardian. "Despite his illness and increasing frailty the ideas were still there. His performance on that last album was remarkable considering how frail he was, his vocal powers on some of the tracks are just extraordinary … he did have this incredible drive."

The auction house tracked down the exact shop on London's Goldhawk Road where Mercury purchased the standard issue notebook. "There are plenty of collectors out there who I'm sure would love to have this – it's because it is so personal, he had it there with him for nearly three years. It gives you a really close connection," Maycock said.