Fallen Pillar Contemplation Verse by Sylvanus (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. London, [1912?] sine data, Tribune Publishing Co. («A. Tomes, Printer»), original cream-coloured cloth lettered gilt to front board and spine; endpapers blank, sextodecimo, pages: 57 [1]; 6 plates hors texte. First edition. A fine copy (slight browning to binding, small ink stains to rear board; slight browning to some leaves, minimal foxing to some leaves). A poem on Titanic's final hours in the North Atlantic icefield where it sank, told in sixty-six stanzas, to which a proem, a few introductory lines and the epilogue «Finis» are added. Writing for «Light» magazine, on whose pages a review of the poems appeared on 21 September 1912, a an unnamed critic aptly said that «although the fastidious critic of verse may find something to cavil at, the book has its good points. It is vigorous and sympathetic, and the story of the voyage, told in ballad fashion, goes with a swing. The homely sea-talk of the fishermen who watch the great vessel ploughing the waters off Cape Race is well depicted, and there are some vivid illustrations. The profits from the sale of the book are, it is stated, to be devoted to the succouring of the widows and orphans of the Titanic's crew», which is indeed what page 5 of this book says. Only one copy, in the British Library, listed in the Online Computer Library Centre (OCLC).…