THE TITANIC DISASTER AS REPORTED IN THE BRITISH NATIONAL PRESS
Compiled by Dave Bryceson
*****
Published by W. W. Norton & Company Inc.
ISBN: 0-393-04108-5
Binding: Hardback
Pages: 312
Price: £30/$35US
Another new acquisition for my Titanic library, and as it turns out, a book I have been without for far too long. For some reason the publisher always sent this title out to bookshops shrink-wrapped, and so I was unable to flick through it whilst browsing the shelves. I can now say (after a long read) that it is an extremely impressive publication.
Unlike Goldman and Caren's Extra Titanic this book is not a collection of facsimile pages from newspapers of the day. There are a considerable number of facsimiles, but the brunt of the text is set out by the publishers in a more legible size, this is what puts it ahead of the Caren book; it is much easier and more pleasurable to read.
The exerts are mainly from the Daily Sketch and The Times between April & July of 1912. One thing on which to congratulate the author is in the manner on which the text is set out. With re-formatting it would have been all too easy to lose sense of what you are reading, but the style is preserved perfectly. As well as this the newspaper and date of the article are printed at the top of the page, aiding further research on the readers part.
The newspaper reproductions also add to the book, especially with the photographs that help identify many of the people involved with the ship and following events. An essential book to have.
