RARE and antique books belonging to a former East Lancashire schoolboy who went on to become an expert on the Middle East are expected to fetch more than £500,000 after his death.

Dr Mike Burrell, who was raised and educated in Blackburn, died from cancer in February, aged 56, leaving 8,000 books.

Now his library, which includes books from 1498, will be sold off in a two-day sale at Sotheby's next month. A spokesman for the famous auctioneers said: "It is the rare product of the combined passions of the bibliophile and the academic, representing 40 years of diligent and tenacious collecting.

"It could hardly be more wide ranging, with the books dating from 1498 to 1998."

Among the lot is a first edition copy of two 19th century astrological texts expected to fetch £10,000 despite the fact it has two small wormholes in it.

Dr Burrell went on from his Blackburn roots to meet the Shah of Persia (now Iran) and in 1970 became lecturer in Contemporary History of the Near and Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies within the University of London. The books will be auctioned in London on October 14 and 15.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.