DESIGNER UNKNOWN WHITE STAR LINE / TITANIC. 1912.
21 3/4x9 1/4 inches, 55x23 1/2 cm.
Condition B: sharp horizontal folds; tape stains in margins and image; tear through bottom margin. Framed.
The Titanic's fateful maiden voyage was a seminal event in 20th century history. A prevailing presumption of invincibility (unsinkability) amongst the liner's owners, builders and operators meant that the ship held a shortage of lifeboats, maintained high speeds in an attempt to make an Atlantic crossing record and disregarded iceberg warnings, all of which played a part in the disaster which claimed the lives of 1,503 of the 2,206 passengers and crew on board. Among the fatalities were members of many of Europe's and America's prominent families, all eager to sail on the most opulent ship ever constructed. But the ship was about more than the trappings of luxury for which it is remembered; it was also intended as a means of transportation for those whose names didn't appear in any social registers. This extremely rare broadside advertises third-class tariffs on the ship's return voyage from New York to Europe. It pictures a photograph of the ship, (actually pictured is the Olympic, the Titanic's sister ship, which looked practically identical and was often used for promotional material), an interior view of a third-class cabin and the third-class dining facility. Its scarcity can be explained in that after the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, the White Star Line would have pulled down and destroyed as many of these posters as they could.