The angular paintings of US-born German Expressionist artist Lyonel Feininger have fetched up to $US23.28 million ($36.2 million) at auction overseas. So, a sketchbook discovered behind a bookshelf in a Sydney retirement village and containing some of Feininger’s drawings is certain to attract interest locally and internationally.

The sketchbook is dated 1889 and carries an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000 in the catalogue of 178 lots in Theodore Bruce Auctioneers and Valuers’ timed sale of Australian and international fine art, which ends on September 18.