John Keats' Love Letter Sells For $153,000

The British wordsmith penned the note to his neighbour Fanny Brawne in 1820, branding himself a "poor prisoner" because he could not make love due to his ill health. He died a year later from tuberculosis, aged just 25.

He was buried with his letters from Brawne, who lived next door to him in Hampstead, London.

The note was bought at auction by bosses at Britain's City of London Corporation with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund and will be displayed at Keats House, where the poet lived between 1818 until the year the letter was written.

Michael Welbank, chairman of the Keats House management committee at the City of London Corporation, says, "We are absolutely delighted that our bid was successful. Keats is a hugely important part of (Britain's) cultural landscape, and it is thrilling to know that we will now be able to display the letter where it was written."