Lord Nelson's love letters to Emma Hamilton could fetch £6m in Sotheby's 'greatest collection of its kind' sale

The collection of 415 letters, documents and manuscripts includes Nelson's own accounts of his victories over the French. Entrepreneur Clive Richards spent 40 years building the archive, which went on public display at Sotheby's for the first time on Wednesday to mark Trafalgar Day. Proceeds will benefit the Clive Richards Foundation, which supports education, healthcare, heritage and the arts.

Among the papers are records of Nelson relearning to write using his left hand once his right arm had been lost in combat.