A rare holiday brochure for the Titanic has resurfaced just weeks before the 110th anniversary of the tragedy. The century-old flyer, which dubbed the infamous liner as "the epitome of security", was published a year before the Belfast-built 52,000 tonne linker sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on her maiden voyage, resulting in the loss of 1,522 lives.
The 72-page mainly illustrated brochure is expected to sell for £6,000 at auction later this month and is being sold by a private collector who uncovered it in Northern Ireland several years ago. It was printed by Liverpool Printing and Stationery Co Ltd and published in May 1911, likely to coincide with Titanic's launch by Belfast's iconic shipbuilders Harland & Wolff - which also launched sister ship Olympic 18 months before.
The immaculate bright red brochures claimed the two vessels were the "most important maritime development of the time" and "without a peer in the ocean". They boasted that the ship reached levels of "prestige and beauty" never seen before, adding that both Titanic and Olympic were the perfect example of comfort, elegance and security.
Read more: Titanic: Explorers set to fork out $250,000 to visit shipwreck site
They painted a picture of prestigious settings on the ship, including the famous grand staircase. The guide also described how the lights from the handsome chandelier above it would "reflect upon the glittering jewels of women in brilliant evening frocks."
The brochure, produced by The White Star line, also details the first class accommodation on board with around 50 images of the plush facilities, including dining rooms and Turkish baths. It read: "It is safe to predict that the Olympic and Titanic will enhance the great reputation of the (White Star) Line."
Only a handful of copies still exist today, despite hundreds having been printed and distributed in 1911 - making it extremely rare when one comes up. Andrew Aldridge, of auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son, said: "There are no more than a handful of these in existence.
"It is more of a promotional brochure that was aimed at wealthy prospective passengers. The Titanic wasn’t due to set sail for another year and so the owners hadn’t formulated the prices at that time, which is why they aren’t in there.
"The brochure was just about how this ship was the biggest and best ship on the planet at that time. Other brochures at the time ran to 16 or 32 pages but this one was by far the largest with 72 pages. It was profusely illustrated."
Nearly the length of three football fields Titanic was, at the time, the largest moving object ever created and also one of the most lavishly appointed ships ever built before it sank on April 15, 1912. Titanic was the middle ship of the three new super-liners - her older sister, Olympic, served as a reliable member of the White Star fleet until she was scrapped in 1935 after striking and sinking the famous Nantucket lightship off the eastern coast of the United States.
Her younger sister, Britannic, met a fate similar to that of Titanic during World War I when she struck a German mine off the coast of Greece and sank in less than an hour. The auction of Titanic, White Star and Transport Memorabilia by Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd Auctioneers & Valuers takes on April 23.
For the latest breaking news straight to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter here.
