The framed 2ft x 3ft 3in (61 x 99cm) poster, which is estimated at £30,000-40,000 in the Henry Aldridge auction in Devizes, Wiltshire, on November 14, is described as “in extraordinary condition with the colours as fresh as when seen in 1912”.
The image was created by Montague Birrel Black, one of the foremost marine artists at the turn of the 20th century.
Estimated at £30,000-50,000 in the Henry Aldridge November 14 auction is a letter written on Titanic stationery, dated April 11, 1912, by pastor John Harper.
Estimated at £30,000-50,000 in the same sale is a letter written on Titanic stationery, dated April 11, 1912, by pastor John Harper.
At the time of the disaster, Harper was 39, a widower with a six-year-old daughter, Annie Jessie (Nana), and was pastor of Walworth Road Baptist Church in London. He was travelling with his daughter and sister Jessie Leitch to Chicago to preach for several weeks at the Moody Church, where he had been guest minister the previous autumn.
His daughter and sister were put on a lifeboat and survived, but Harper stayed onboard and gave his lifejacket to a fellow passenger. Contemporary accounts state that Harper preached the Gospel to the end (especially Acts 16:31), first aboard the sinking ship and then afterward to those in the freezing water before succumbing to the inevitable.
