A rare collection of Bront books will go under the hammer at Sotheby's next month.

The lots -- from a massive private library amassed over 40 years -- together are expected to sell for around £15,000.

They are among 250 lots -- likely to realise at least £ million -- from the collection of Shell Group magnate Neville Fakes.

The line-up of Bront first editions, to be auctioned on July 11, is headed by a copy of Villette, written in three volumes by Charlotte, working under the pseudonym Currer Bell.

The works, dating from 1853, are expected to fetch up to £7,000.

Another first edition penned by Charlotte, Jane Eyre, from 1847, is tipped to sell for up to £3,000.

And a copy of sister Anne's second and final novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), is expected to fetch £5,000.

Anne died the year after the book was published, before reaching her 30th birthday.

A collection of poems by Charlotte, Anne and Emily, which should sell for around £1,500, completes the series.

This week Ann Dinsdale, librarian at the Bront Parsonage Museum, in Haworth, said first editions of the sisters' work were keenly sought after.

She added: "The first editions were published in very small numbers so they are quite rare and there is always a lot of interest when they come up for sale.

"Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are especially sought after because they are the best loved of the novels -- first editions of Wuthering Heights are particularly rare."

She said the Bront Society already had in its collection copies of the books selling at Sotheby's, so would not itself be bidding.