FIRST OFF . . .

A West German businessman said Sunday that the Mozart symphony manuscript sold in London last week for more than $4 million is really his. Real estate agent Gustav Brayer said he gave the 510-page manuscript to his lawyer three years ago for the purpose of authentication and never received it back. Brayer, who says he bought the book from the estate of a Frankfurt resident, claimed he recognized the manuscript in a television newscast from such peculiarities as its written format and unusual shape. Sotheby’s has refused to disclose who sold the manuscript, saying only that the vendor was not British. The manuscript is headed for the Pierpoint Morgan Library in New York, according to the New York Times. No comment could be obtained from Sotheby’s on Brayer’s claim.