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Sotheby’s, June 26: Poe, Edgar Allan. Tamerlane — the most poignant rarity in American literature. 400,000 - 600,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: The Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." 2,500,000 - 5,000,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: William Blake. “Poems with very wild and interesting pictures” 1,200,000 - 1,800,000 USDSotheby’s, June 26: Thomas Taylor [artist]. The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. 400,000 - 600,000 USD
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Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 4. Blaeu's Magnificent Carte-a-Figures World Map in Full Contemporary Color (1642) Est. $12,000 - $15,000Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 125. 1775 Edition of the Landmark Fry-Jefferson Map of Virginia and Maryland (1775) Est. $15,000 - $18,000Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 673. Rare Frontispiece in Full Contemporary Color with Gilt Highlights (1662) Est. $4,000 - $4,750Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 717. Complete Tanner Atlas with Important Maps of Texas & Iowa (1845) Est. $4,000 - $4,750Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 3. Henricus Hondius' Baroque-Style World Map (1641) Est. $9,500 - $11,000Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 258. Complete Set of De Bry's Native Virginians & Picts from Part I of Grands Voyages (1608) Est. $2,750 - $3,500Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 608. Superb Work on 18th Century Russia with over 100 Maps and Plates (1788) Est. $3,500 - $4,250Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 49. One of the Most Important 16th Century Maps of the New World (1556) Est. $5,000 - $6,000Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 706. Superb Image of the Annunciation in Contemporary Hand Color (1518) Est. $900 - $1,100Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 123. One of the Earliest Maps to Show Philadelphia (1695) Est. $4,000 - $4,750Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 631. One of the Earliest Printed Maps of Afghanistan & Pakistan (1482) Est. $1,900 - $2,200Old World Auctions (Jun 5-19):
Lot 689. Proof Copy Engraving of the Senate Floor During the Compromise of 1850 (1855) Est. $1,500 - $1,800 -
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Dominic Winter Auctioneers
Auctions on June 19
and June 20Dominic Winter, June 19: Lot 70 - Warner (Robert). The Orchid Album, 11 volumes, 1882-1897. £5,000 to £8,000Dominic Winter, June 19: Lot 151 - United States. Melish (John), Map of the United States with..., British & Spanish Possessions, 1816. £40,000 to £60,000Dominic Winter, June 19: Lot 159 - World. Speed (John), A New and Accurat Map of the World, 1676. £4,000 to £6,000.Dominic Winter Auctioneers
Auctions on June 19
and June 20Dominic Winter, June 20: Lot 503 - American Civil War playing cards. Union Cards, New York: American Card Co., 1862. £500 to £800Dominic Winter, June 20: Lot 573 - Shepard (Ernest Howard), 'The Hour is Come’, original watercolour, [1959]. £10,000 to £15,000Dominic Winter, June 20: Lot 922 - Wilde (Oscar). An Ideal Husband, large paper limited issue, 1899. £4,000 to £6,000Dominic Winter Auctioneers
Auctions on June 19
and June 20Dominic Winter, June 20: Lot 744 - Disney (Walt). “Sketch Book” [of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs], 1938. £700 to £1,000Dominic Winter, June 20: Lot 771 - Auden (Wystan Hugh). Portrait of the head of W. H. Auden, 1970. £1,000 to £1,500Dominic Winter, June 20: Lot 822 - Fleming (Ian). Goldfinger, 1st edition, signed by the author, 1959. £6,000 to £8,000Dominic Winter Auctioneers
Auctions on June 19
and June 20Dominic Winter, June 20: Lot 895 - Rowling (J. K.). A complete inscribed set of Harry Potter books plus ephemera. £8,000 to £12,0000Dominic Winter, June 20: Lot 883 - Orwell (George). Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1st edition, London: Secker & Warburg, 1949. £3,000 to £5,000Dominic Winter, June 20: Lot 700 - Ashendene Press. T. Lucreti Cari De Rerium Natura Libri Sex, Chelsea: Ashendene Press, 1913. £4,000 to £6,000
Rare Book Monthly
Articles - October - 2006 Issue
Huge Auction Stills The Voice Of Once Largest Radio Church
By Michael Stillman
The voice was riveting. In the days of my youth, it flowed along the airwaves like molasses, seeping into every corner of America and much of the world. This was the 1950s and 1960s. A.M. radio still ruled the air. When you lived out in the country in this era, your local stations were forced to go off the air at dusk. All you could listen to were powerful distant stations, their crackling voices penetrating small town America from afar. The reception was rarely clear, but the choice was this or silence.
Like most of my age, I tuned in to hear the sounds of rock and roll, that vulgar new music that was corrupting the souls of my generation. Six nights a week, I would tune to hear those raucous sounds the local stations would not touch. But on Sunday night, Chuck Berry and Bill Haley fell silent on even distant stations. That is when the smooth yet commanding voice of Garner Ted Armstrong would take over. I lived in the Northeast, not the South, not the Bible belt. Radio preachers did not often penetrate our airspace. However, Garner Ted was so powerful, so popular, that he could travel where not even Billy Graham dared go. In his heyday, Armstrong pulled in audiences and contributions well beyond those of his famed counterpart. He was that good.
Whatever became of Garner Ted Armstrong, his father Herbert W. Armstrong, their Worldwide Church of God, The World Tomorrow radio and television programs, The Plain Truth Magazine, and Ambassador College is only tangentially related to the subject of this article. The main topic is an enormous book auction that began late last month and will continue each weekend through November as the 100,000-volume library of Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, is dispersed. The library was built to accommodate the university's successful application for accreditation in 1994. However, by 1997, funding shortages forced the college to close its doors, and the library has remained unused ever since. National Book Auctions, the national arm of CNY Book Auctions of Ithaca, New York, will conduct the sale. They estimate around 10,000 books, combined in 800 lots, will be sold each weekend, with sales being made at the site, online, and through eBay.
The rise and downfall of the Worldwide Church of God has been told in other venues, and I will not try to tell it again in any great detail. I am struck more by my own memories of the spellbinding speaking style of Garner Ted, heard so many years ago, than by the scandals that brought the empire down. My recollections of Garner Ted are that, compared to most radio and television evangelists, he didn't have all that much to say, but he said it better than anyone else. It was like cotton candy. Still, it was hard not to listen because he said little so very well.