John Steinbeck letter, $32,426, RR Auction

A John Steinbeck two-page handwritten letter to his 14-year-old son, Thomas, dated Nov. 10, 1958, in which he offers wise, fatherly advice on matters of the heart, sold for $32,426 in an online auction held Sept. 23-Oct. 12 by RR Auction, based in Boston. Also, Edgar Allan Poe’s handwritten letter soliciting a donation for the Southern Literary Messenger garnered $149,999; and Benjamin Franklin’s handwritten letter regarding the mutinous crew of John Paul Jones’s flagship hit $62,500.