Lincoln letter record

A letter written by former US President Abraham Lincoln has sold for $3.4m (£1.7m) at auction in New York, setting a record for any American manuscript.

The 1864 reply to a petition by 195 children asking for the freedom of "all the slave children in this country" surpassed the previous record of $3.1m.

It was bought by an American collector bidding by telephone, Sotheby's said.

The letter was the highlight of a sale of some 100 manuscripts written by other American historical figures.

Other highlights included documents written by George Washington, a Lincoln autograph penned on the day of his famous Gettysburg Address, and one from the sixth US president, John Quincy Adams, foretelling the Civil War.

Sotheby's said the record-breaking manuscript was "arguably Lincoln's most personal and powerful statement on God, slavery and emancipation".