Rare Exhibition of Freddie Mercury’s Manuscripts and Objects on Display in New York

The city of New York hosts until June 8 a rare exhibition, that of objects and manuscripts belonging to Freddie Mercury, never presented to the public. After New York, the manuscripts will stop in Los Angeles and Hong Kong. They will then be exhibited in August in London before their sale, during a series of auctions from August 4 to September 11.

The key manuscript of the exhibition is that of the famous melody of Bohemian Rhapsody. Written in ballpoint pen and pencil on paper from a now defunct airline, “British Midlands Airways”, the draft of “Bohemian Rhapsody” reveals on 15 pages the different directions that Freddie Mercury had considered for this famous title of Queenwhich he originally planned to be titled “Mongolian Rhapsody”.

Sotheby’s evokes an estimate between 800,000 and 1.2 million pounds sterling (930,000 to 1.4 million euros). Among the other drafts of the singer who died of AIDS in 1991 are those of “Don’t Stop Me Now”, “Somebody to Love”, and “We Are the Champions”, estimated between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds (225,000 to 339,000 euros).

Among the other exhibits is a red notebook from the early 1970s, arguably one of his earliest collections of lyrics, whose 42 pages also feature sketches of the band’s logo and coffee stains.

A yellow spiral notebook, 24 pages of lyrics for the band’s 1978 seventh album ‘Jazz’, which includes the track ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, will also go on sale, along with costumes, including the jumpsuit satin worn by Freddie Mercury in the video for “Bohemian Rhapsody” in 1975.

Profits will be donated in part to the Mercury Phoenix Trust and Elton John Aids Foundation, two organizations involved in the fight against AIDS.