SAN FRANCISCO — It is a collection of items both mundane and mysterious: tweezers, a pocket knife, a handmade tool.

Such were the personal items seized from the remote Montana shack of Theodore J. Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, that will be sold soon under order of a federal judge in an effort to pay off a $15 million restitution order.

In 1998, Kaczynski, 64, pleaded guilty to a series of mail bombings from 1978 to 1995 that killed three people and injured 28 others, some seriously.

Among the more intriguing items to be sold are original writings of Kaczynski that were seized by the government when he was captured in 1996. A former mathematics professor who developed a hatred for the modern world, Kaczynski wrote a 35,000-word anti-technology manifesto that was published, at government request, in The Washington Post seven months before his capture in 1996. (The New York Times jointly financed the publication of the tract.)

The order, issued this past week by U.S. District Court Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr., comes after a protracted legal skirmish between the government and Kaczynski, who is in a maximum security prison in Florence, Colo. Kaczynski had long argued that his property should be returned to him, while the government wanted it held.

Last month, the government proposed an online auction of the personal items, with the proceeds going toward the restitution. Burrell approved that plan, despite some objections from Kaczynski.

A lawyer for Kaczynski could not be reached for comment.

In addition to the original manuscripts, the auction list includes some telling items, including three typewriters, two face masks and dozens of tools. There is also a blue zippered sweatshirt and blue hood for sale, two elements that were part of the famous artist's sketch of the Unabomber, printed on "most wanted" posters for years.

Some items have a personal connection: two checkbooks in his name, a briefcase containing his degrees from the University of Michigan and a homemade calendar.

"He was living in pretty dire straits," said Quin Denvir, Kaczynski's former lawyer. "It was a pretty primitive way of life, so his belongings are limited."

And then there are the books, an impressive library of history, philosophy and science, including several handbooks on advanced chemistry that suggest somewhat sinister interests. Kaczynski's taste in fiction and drama seems less developed, though copies of "Of Mice and Men," "1984" and "The Merchant of Venice" will also be for sale.

Antonio C. Amador, the U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of California, said his office would be responsible for finding an online auctioneer. "We don't have the staff or personnel to sit on the court steps and auction stuff off," Amador said. "I don't want a bunch of deputies out there running it like a carnival."

One item not among those being auctioned is Kaczynski's cabin, which was taken from its remote Montana location to an Air Force base east of Sacramento before his trial began.

Denvir said the government had not decided what to do with the cabin, though it may not be worth much as is. "He had no electricity, no water, no TV," Denvir said. "And no VCR."