Singer-songwriter Nick Drake made a huge mark on folk music with only three albums to his name, so the revelation that a reel of six previously unheard recordings exists could be a massive contribution to his catalog. According to the New York Times, the recordings will go up for auction on July 31st at London's Ted Owen & Company. A company representative described the recordings as "pristine master tapes" and is expecting them to fetch at least £250,000 ($428,000).  

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Recorded in 1968, the year before the release of his debut album Five Leaves Left, the reel has been owned by Beverley Martyn, a folk singer who mentored Drake alongside her late husband John Martyn. In an interview with the Independent, she called the sound "full of fun," and said Drake's early guitar playing on the tape is "absolutely excellent." "The strings were great , but this is just him, and it makes it more personal," she said. She went on to describe Drake as a "younger brother."

The clouds that gather round the setting sun  
Do take a sober colouring from an eye  
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;  
Another race hath been, and other palms are won.  
Thanks to the human heart by which we live, 
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,  
To me the meanest flower that blows can give  
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

-Wordsworth