1987 book on the 1985 discovery of the Titanic lost off Newfoundland in 1912
Toronto. When I was a little kid, I looked at my uncle’s books in awe. One was a story of the Titanic – mostly text with some line drawings. After the ship sank, the author could only speculate on the results in the briny deep.
Seventy three years later, the wreck of the Titanic was found and in two years this book was published with many fabulous colour photos. For the first time we could learn about the fate of the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic and see the remains via remote photographs.
Photography came to the rescue of historical events other than ship wrecks like that of the Titanic. Over the years, line drawings illustrated books, magazine, and newspapers. And then along came photography making the line drawing more accurate. Finally a process allowed the photos to be reproduced in the printed matter. Today high resolution colour photos are routinely used both in print and in electronic media.
This was just another way that photography helped mankind, in this case recording historic events. You can buy the photos in the book but they are all copyright Getty Images and offered at rather steep prices. The book is out of print but available used. This site lists publication as 1988, but mine is a 1987 hard cover …
NB. I wrote this post thinking about Canadian balladeer Gordon Lightfoot who died May 1, 2023. Here is Gord singing, “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” which I have on a CD.
