Personal letters and signed first editions of the works of Samuel Beckett, WB Yeats, James Joyce and Oscar Wilde will form the bulk of Sotheby's literature auction in London on 7 December. Guide prices have put at close to 1 million the value of works by the four writers which will form the centre-piece of the auction.

According to Peter Selley of Sotheby's, the auction is set to be one of the largest ever sales of modern Irish literature. The market for material relating to Irish writers is so strong at the moment that several international buyers are expected to bid on the items, he said.

Among the items listed to auction are 340 letters written by Samuel Beckett to the famous artist Henri Hayden, with whom he struck up a life-long friendship during his period in the south of France at the height of the second world war. The letters stretch in date from 1947 to 1985 and are expected to fetch in the region of 300,000.

According to Selley, the Beckett letters offer a unique insight into the life of one of Ireland's greatest writers.

"Beckett and Hayden formed a very strong friendship during world war two", explains Selley. "Hayden was Jewish and Beckett was active in the French Resistance, so it was a very formative time for both of them.

The letters are very personal and discuss matters such as his work, his health and his family at great length."

The Beckett letters are the most comprehensive series of letters by the author ever collected and their price may yet reach far above the expected 300,000. Two years ago, just one letter written by James Joyce was sold for an astonishing £210,000.

Although just four pages in length, the letter, written to his then lover Nora Barnacle, was said to be extremely detailed and revealing.

Also going under the hammer will be signed copies of Yeats's first editions, inscribed by the author to his father, Lady Augusta Shakespere and Olivia Shakespere, amongst others.

Signed copies of Yeats's The Book of the Rhymers' Club are expected to fetch up to 45,000.

According to Selley, items relating to the famed Irish authors are amongst the most sought after in the world and regularly attract prices in their tens of thousands.

"It may seem bizarre, but whenever we host an auction of English literature, it is always the Irish writers who make the highest prices", he says. "Writers such as Shakespeare or Dylan Thomas can make high prices, but very few others can match the likes of Yeats or Joyce".

Prices being fetched by famous Irish authors have rocketed over the last decade.

Sotheby's sold a signed first edition of Ulysses for 60,000 last year, whereas 10 years ago the same item would have gone for in the region of 10,000.

Sotheby's have priced at 165,000 a signed first edition of Dubliners. According to Selley, signed copies of Dubliners have always fetched more at auction than Ulysses due to their rarity.

Only two signed first-edition copies of Dubliners have appeared at auction over the last 40 years.