BEESLEY, Lawrence. The Loss of the S.S. Titanic. London: Philip Allan & Co. Ltd., 1929.
8vo. Publisher's blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, with gilt device to upper board; pp. [v], 6-222, [2]; ink inscriptions to front fly-leaf, being signatures of three Titanic survivors, dated 17th April 1993; British Titanic Convention 1993 and British Titanic Society Boat Ticket stickers affixed to lower paste-down; light sunning to spine; minor bumping to corners; minimal spotting to preliminary pages; a very good copy.
Second edition, signed by three Titanic survivors. Signed by Eva Hart, E[dith] E. Haisman, and Millvina Dean. Eva Hart, from East London and born in 1905, experienced the Titanic disaster at the age of seven. She, along with her mother, was rescued from the sinking ship and transported to New York, eventually returning to England. Edith Haisman, who was born in South Africa in 1896, embarked on the Titanic as a second-class passenger at the age of 15. Her journey to America was in pursuit of her father's aspiration to establish a hotel in Seattle. Eliza Gladys Dean, affectionately known as Millvina,was the youngest passenger on the Titanic, having been a mere two months old at the time of the voyage. Interestingly, the Dean family had not originally intended to be aboard the Titanic, but due to coal strikes, they found themselves transferred to the vessel as third-class passengers.
Lawrence Beesley was himself a second-class passenger on the Titanic, and his book provides a poignant and detailed narrative of the events leading up to the sinking and the chaos that ensued. He shares his experiences as he witnessed the ship striking an iceberg, the ensuing evacuation, and the heart-wrenching scenes of passengers and crew facing the impending disaster.
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