McMillan, Beverly & Stanley Lehrer. Titanic Fortune and Fate. Catalogue from The Mariners’ Museum Exhibition. Newport News, VA & NY: Mariner’s Museum / Simon & Schuster. 1998. hardcover. isbn: 0684857103. scarcity: common.

This book is subtitled Letters, Mementos, and Personal Effects from Those Who Sailed on the Lost Ship. It was printed as a companion piece to the Mariners’ Museum Titanic exhibit held in Newport News, Virginia, 1998. The exhibit featured personal belongings of survivors and of artifacts rescued from the bottom of the Atlantic, as well as White Star memorabilia from some of the best Titanic collections in the world.

Many of these rare, often one of a kind, items are included in the book’s illustrations. Indeed, the first thing that hits you as you browse the pages is the spectacular imagery shown throughout. The images steal the show, which is just as well, as I had some problems with the text. Not the words themselves, but rather the text layout.

Most pages have multiple font sizes, often three or four sizes per page. The effect is to make the words flow about as smoothly as a teenager first learning to drive a stick shift. Adding to the disjointed effect is the sentences which run down the side margins every couple of pages. It is aggravating to have to tilt the book over to read these captions.

Beyond the format though, I found few faults. The text is informative and interesting throughout. Of particular use is the complete list of the ship’s passengers and crew detailing who was saved and who was lost.