Rare manuscripts up for auction

Thousands of French investors are hoping to recover some of the money they lost in an alleged pyramid scheme when a collection of rare manuscripts goes up for auction starting next month. Investigators suspect the items were acquired through a pyramid scheme in which works allegedly purchased by clients were resold to new investors. A court seized the so-called Aristophil collection and ordered it to be sold off. The 130,000-piece collection is estimated to be worth a sum that could run eight or nine figures. It includes the original manuscript for The 120 Days of Sodom and hand-written testimony by a U.S. survivor of the Titanic.