Walter Allen Coslet (born in Lewistown, Montana on October 31, 1922, died in Helena, Montana on November 29, 1996) was a well known science fiction fan, collector, and fanzine publisher as well as a charter member of the International Society of Bible Collectors, writing many articles for the society's publications. He served the National Fantasy Fan Federation as both a Vice-President (1947) and President (1955).
Lewistown is a city in and the county seat of Fergus County, Montana, United States. The population was 5,901 at the 2010 census. Lewistown is located in central Montana, the geographic center of the state, southeast of Great Falls and northwest of Billings. First planned in 1882, it was the site of an 1880s gold rush, and served as an important railway destination, supplying surrounding communities with bricks via rail.
Helena is the state capital of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County.
Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that has been called the "literature of ideas". It typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, time travel, parallel universes, fictional worlds, space exploration, and extraterrestrial life. It often explores the potential consequences of scientific innovations.
Coslet was the only child of Arthur Allen Coslet and Bessie Fodushia Pickett; at age four his right arm was injured and a bone had to be removed because it failed to heal. The family moved to Sunnyside, Washington when he entered 2nd grade, to avoid having to have him vaccinated, but returned to Denton, Montana after Washington also passed mandatory vaccination laws for school aged children. His interest in science fiction began in his early teens and he began collecting in 1937. When his mother objected to his reading science fiction he began reading it in the barn. He graduated from high school in Denton in 1941. The childhood injury to his right arm kept him out of military service in World War II.
Sunnyside is a city in Yakima County, Washington, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 15,858.
Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop protection from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating the body's adaptive immunity, they help prevent sickness from an infectious disease. When a sufficiently large percentage of a population has been vaccinated, herd immunity results. The effectiveness of vaccination has been widely studied and verified. Vaccination is the most effective method of preventing infectious diseases; widespread immunity due to vaccination is largely responsible for the worldwide eradication of smallpox and the elimination of diseases such as polio and tetanus from much of the world.
Denton is a town in Fergus County, Montana, United States. The population was 255 at the 2010 census.
Coslet attended Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alberta, Canada for one year . Among his early jobs he worked as a truck driver on a ranch and spent a few weeks as a shepherd.
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Its southern border with the United States, stretching some 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), is the world's longest bi-national land border. Canada's capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards herds of sheep. Shepherd derives from Old English sceaphierde.
After taking the State Merit Test he moved to Helena, Montana for his first real job as a clerk in the Department of Labor in 1944. He stayed with this job for 42 years moving up to examiner, determining people's eligibility for unemployment benefits.
Coslet's parents moved from Denton to Helena and took up residence at the Grandon Hotel where Walter already lived. In 1945 he and his mother purchased a house.
Coslet's hobby interests grew, including stamp collecting. From being a member of Linn's Weekly Stamp News stamp collector's stamp exchange he met Dorothy Gawne from Amherst, Ohio. The two traded stamps and corresponded for 2 years before actually meeting in person. By this time Gawne was attending L. I. F. E. Bible College in Los Angeles, California. Coslet and his father came to Los Angeles to visit. The next summer Gawne visited Coslet's home in Helena. One year later, after she finished her studies graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Theology degree, Gawne and Coslet were married on August 12, 1947 in Helena. The new family began taking in foster children in 1950, eventually having cared for four. In 1957 the first of their three sons was born.
Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is related to philately, which is the study of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth century with the rapid growth of the postal service, as a never-ending stream of new stamps was produced by countries that sought to advertise their distinctiveness through their stamps.
Linn's Stamp News is an American weekly magazine for stamp collectors. It is published by Amos Media Co., which also publishes the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers, and the Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers 1840-1940. Linn's was founded in 1928 by George W. Linn as Linn's Weekly Stamp News.
Amherst is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. It is located 28 miles (45 km) west of Cleveland. The population was 12,021 at the 2010 census.
Coslet became well known for his vast knowledge of both science fiction and the Bible. Although he sold his science fiction collection, spanning thirty-five years, in 1972 to a collector in Portland, Oregon (the fanzine collection is now in the Albin O. Kuhn Library at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County), he continued to accumulate science fiction books and magazines until his death. He had one of the largest private collections of English translations of the Bible in the world.
Portland, officially the City of Portland, is the largest and most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Multnomah County. It is a major port in the Willamette Valley region of the Pacific Northwest, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. As of 2018, Portland had an estimated population of 653,115, making it the 25th most populated city in the United States, and the second-most populous in the Pacific Northwest after Seattle. Approximately 2.4 million people live in the Portland metropolitan statistical area (MSA), making it the 25th most populous in the United States. Its combined statistical area (CSA) ranks 19th-largest with a population of around 3.2 million. Approximately 60% of Oregon's population resides within the Portland metropolitan area.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2018 enrollment of 13,767 students, 48 undergraduate majors, over 60 graduate programs and the first university research park in Maryland.
The 23 oldest and most valuable items in his Bible collection were auctioned by Bonhams & Butterfields on October 17, 2006 . Coslet's copy of the Golden Legend was auctioned on December 4, 2006 .
