A handwritten letter from Brian Jones to Charlie Watts in which he attempts to recruit the drummer to join the band that would soon become the Rolling Stones is being auctioned later this year.

Photograph: Brian Jones

The 1962 letter, which comes directly from Watts’s sister and has remained in the family for more than six decades, will be revealed to the public for the first time.

Watts was still working in advertising at the time while playing with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, one of the leading groups in London’s burgeoning rhythm and blues scene. He was initially reluctant to commit to Jones’s fledgling band, which had yet to be named.

Photograph: Brian Jones

The letter comes with its original envelope and is addressed to “Mr. C. Watts” at his childhood home in Wembley.…