Albert Einstein, pictured in 1953.

A letter in which Albert Einstein branded religious beliefs as "childish superstitions" and the "product of human weaknesses" has been sold at auction in London for £170,000 to a private collector, smashing the world record for a letter by the great scientist.

Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair, which handled the sale, was deluged with interest in the lot which had been given a guide price of between £6000 and £8000.

"It beats the world record for an Einstein letter by about 4 times," said managing director Rupert Powell, "It's a massive difference."

To handle the sale, the auction house installed an extra 11 phone lines in order to include bids from potential international buyers. Powell said the atmosphere in the sale room went from excitement, to disappointment as various bidders dropped out, to disbelief at the rocketing price. The £170,000 value is the so-called hammer price; with auction house fees and other costs the buyer paid £207,600 for the letter in total.

Einstein penned the missive on January 3 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. The letter went on public sale a year later and has remained in private hands ever since.

In the letter, Einstein is frank about his views on the supernatural. "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."

Einstein, who was Jewish and who declined an offer to be the state of Israel's second president, also rejected the idea that the Jews are God's favoured people.

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

爱因斯坦: “ 上帝对于我来说只不过是人类软弱和胆怯的产物,圣经是一系列光辉事迹的集合,但仍然是极为天真幼稚的原始传说.不管多么狡猾精明的解释都不能使我改变这一看法.”