Marshall, Logan (editor). The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters. n.p. . 1912. hardcover. although the book has 319 pages of text, there are also 32 plates, so the publisher has numbered the last page number 351. isbn: none. scarcity: common.

The most common of the door to door books printed right after the disaster, it is still easy to come by today. The tag line for this book is it states it is the “Only Authoritative Book” on the title page. It covers the story from the maiden voyage (with emphasis on all the prominent persons in first class), through the collision with the iceberg, the aftermath, landing in New York, ships sent out of Halifax to search for bodies, and finishes with the US Senate investigation.

While it manages to avoid most of the sensationalism of some of its siblings, the accuracy of the text is just as problematical. Relatively correct information is followed by exaggerated innuendo, which are themselves followed by flagrantly false details in a mishmash of documentation that makes taking any of the content at face value a minefield for anyone who doesn’t know the history of the tragedy well.

But, perhaps, getting the straight scoop isn’t really the point of these books anyway. They are much more a cultural snapshot of how the people and the press of the time viewed the event. So many of the popular conceptions of the disaster are found in these pages. The actions of the first class men and women are brave, calm and heroic without fail. Women and children were given priority access to the lifeboats regardless of class. As the end neared gun fire erupted, apparently all over the ship as cowardly third class passengers and stokers ran out of control.

There is also the story of the black stoker who tried to steal Phillip’s life jacket (there were no black stokers on the ship). The story of the dog Rigel who saved a lifeboat from being overrun by the Carpathia. Ismay is given particularly rough treatment, being shown as demanding and indifferent to everyone’s needs beyond his own. Most of the actions attributed to him are pure fiction.

The book is illustrated with pictures of Titanic, most of which are really of Olympic. Plus there are scattered charts, plans and other sketches. Sometimes these are just as inaccurate as the text as in one near the end of the book showing what ships were near the Titanic. Not only is the map flipped wrong horizontally, but vertically as well, showing Californian to the south of the Titanic and Carpathia to the west of her.

This is the book that has L.T. Myers’ name on the copyright page, which many people mistake as the author.

It was also published under the title The Tragic Story of the Titanic under the by-line of Henry Fredricks. The text of the two books are essentially identical.

To see the many reprint editions of this book, check out the listings on the Book List M to R.