BOOKS

Rare Roger Williams

Moses Brown's personal copy of Roger Williams' "The Bloody Tenent of Persecution," printed in 1644, will be auctioned off Friday. It's one of only two copies known to exist.

Courtesy of Sotheby's New York

Friday's auction of a rare copy of Roger Williams' book laying out his argument for religious freedom, as well as a set of five leather-bound volumes of the first U.S. translation of the Bible's first five books, will be live-streamed online for those who want to watch — or bid.

And along with the copy of Williams' 1644 “The Bloody Tenent of Persecution,” which once belonged to Moses Brown, the auctioneers at Sotheby's will be selling an assortment of other notable items.

They include the first fragment of the Gutenberg Bible — the Book of Esther — to come up for public auction since the early 1980s, expected to go for $500,000 to $700,000; one of the first broadsides providing the text of the Declaration of Independence, expected to fetch $1 million to $2 million; some pages rejected from the draft of George Washington's Inaugural Address, in Washington's own handwriting; and a letter in Jackie Kennedy's handwriting.

The auction begins at 10 a.m. Go to live.ebay.com/lvx/sothebys