Madonna's lawyers are fighting to stop a collection of love letters and intimate photographs being made public at the same time as she tries to make her adoption of a Malawian baby permanent.

The 17 notes and seven Polaroid snaps she sent in the early 1990s to then boyfriend James Albright were recently sold to an investment company specialising in Madonna memorabilia.

The firm is now touting them around to the highest bidder and hoping to make more than ￡100,000.

Some of the pictures, which the singer took of herself, show her naked in explicit poses.

The collection also includes personal items such as underwear which Madonna apparently sent to Albright during their two-year relationship.

Although she repeatedly posed nude at the time for her controversial coffee-table book, Sex, she is understood to be devastated about the arrival of such items on the market - particularly at such a sensitive time.

The head of Malawi's child welfare service is about to spend a week with Madonna and her family in London to assess whether they are fit to adopt baby David Banda permanently.