An old letter from John Lennon to Paul McCartney and his wife Linda has surfaced, painting a vivid picture of the level of discontent between the prolific songwriting duo after The Beatles’ memorable split.

The letter, drafted on the letterhead of Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono, is currently up for auction in the United States with an estimated price of $US20,000 ($A27,000) or more.

In it, Lennon launches a scathing attack on Linda McCartney in response to a missive she sent chastising him for failing to formally announce his departure from the band to the media.

“I was reading your letter and wondering what middle-aged, cranky Beatle fan wrote it,” Lennon began the letter.

“I resisted looking at the last page to find out – I kept thinking who is it – Queenie? Stuart’s mother? – Clive Epstein’s wife? – Alan Williams? – What the hell – it’s Linda!”

Lennon urged Linda to “shut up” and “let Paul write” if she didn’t like what he had to say.

The letter isn’t dated, but the auction company estimated it was written in 1971, one year after the British band formally announced its split.

In his correspondence with his former bandmate’s wife, Lennon referenced the intense scrutiny he and his partner Ono faced from the media and from their own friends.

“[I] hope you realise what sh*t you and the rest of my ‘kind and unselfish’ friends laid on Yoko and me, since we’ve been together,” Lennon said.

“It might have sometimes been a bit more subtle or should I say ‘middle class’ – but not often.

“We both ‘rose above it’ quite a few times – & forgave you two – so it’s the least you can do for us – you noble people.”

Lennon also accused McCartney of resting on his laurels and failing to finish the movement started when they and bandmates Ringo Starr and George Harrison first formed The Beatles in the early 1960s.

“Do you really think most of today’s art came about because of the Beatles? – I don’t believe you’re that insane – Paul – do you believe that? When you stop believing it you might wake up!” Lennon wrote.

“Didn’t we always say we were part of the movement – not all of it? – Of course, we changed the world – but try and follow it through – GET OFF YOUR GOLD DISC AND FLY!”

The ending to Lennon’s letter was particularly vitriolic, featuring a pointed attack on Linda and her “insane family”, accompanied by some explicit language.

“Finally, about not telling anyone that I left the Beatles – PAUL and Klein both spent the day persuading me it was better not to say anything,” Lennon said, referring to Allen Klein, the controversial manager often blamed for the band breaking up.

“So get that into your petty little perversion of a mind, Mrs. McCartney – the c***s asked me to keep quiet about it.

“Of course, the money angle is important – to all of us – especially after all the petty sh*t that came from your insane family/in laws – and GOD HELP YOU OUT, PAUL – see you in two years – I reckon you’ll be out then – in spite of it all, love to you both, from us two.”

Lennon was assassinated nine years later on December 8, 1980, by Mark Chapman, a psychotic Beatles fan.

In an interview on The Jonathan Ross Show in 2014, McCartney said he and Lennon had managed to patch things up before the sudden murder.

“I got a phone call … It was just so horrific … I couldn’t take it in. For days, you just couldn’t think that he was gone,” McCartney said.

“For me it was just so sad that I wasn’t going to see him again.

“I’m so glad [we reunited] because it would have been the worst thing in the world to have this great relationship that then soured and he gets killed, so there was some solace in the fact that we got back together,” McCartney said.

“We were good friends.”

Linda McCartney died in 1998 after a battle with breast cancer.

See Lennon’s full, annotated letter here.

Watch Paul McCartney talk about John Lennon’s death: