The best indepth biographies For passengers in proper book form

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Other other than crew can anyone recommend any good biographies of passengers ? Have there been any there any in-depth studies of lets say the Astors in proper book form like you’d buy a biography about a celebrity ?
 
Hello

Thanks for your reply. I'm sure your right!

But I thought the Astors were one of the richest men/couples in the world and there was plenty of gossip in magazines about his new younger wife ? Were they not a bit like a celebrity couple - making the papers, magazines etc. Maybe the start of the trashy show biz magazine gossip we get now !
 
It almost goes without saying (which is probably why it hasn't been said!) that the best-known passenger today is Margaret ('Molly') Brown, and there are several books about her life. There is a biography also of bandleader Wallace Hartley, who achieved a considerable degree of celebrity status after his death and was technically a 2nd Class passenger. A representative of the non-celebs is 3rd Class survivor Frank Goldsmith, who wrote a brief autobiography Echoes in the Night.
 
Miles, J J and Madeleine certainly made the papers, but you would need to be able to dig around in American libraries to find contemporary stories, especially those of the scandalous kind. Only quality papers like The Washington Post and The New York Times are readily available outside the US.

In the context of the Astor family, J J was a minor figure, especially when compared with the founder of the dynasty, the original J J. He owned most of Manhattan Island and is said to have regretted not acquiring all of it while he had the chance.

As to wealth, the 1912 J J was worth about $100m US, which is in the same ballpark as Bill Gates today.
 
And that, of course, was at a time when S100,000,000 was a lot of money! To the average man on the street the Titanic itself was an object of almost unimaginable value, but JJ's fortune was enough to buy the ship and 12 more like her. He was, as we say, not short of a few bob. These days, Bill Gates could buy the QM2 and 40 more like her.
 
A correction to Dave’s claim that Discretions and Indiscretions by Lady Duff Gordon is an extremely scarce title. It really isn’t, at least not the U.S. edition. I have two copies myself and used to have three, only one of which I paid a big sum for. And many libraries have the book. It’s by no means truly "rare," as it was a bestseller in 1932, selected by Publishers Weekly as Book of the Month for October of that year. It went into at least six editions and was still in print at the time of her death three years later.

Lastly, the Library of Congress most definitely has copies of the book, records of which are available in the LOC online catalog. The library holds copies of the U.S. and British editions as well as microfilm copies.
 
Technically, Dave and Randy are both right about the scarcity of Duff-Gordon's autobiography. As Randy pointed out, during her time, the book went through many printings - so in theory there should be a large number of copies out there.

On the other hand, I follow the used book sites closely, and the reality is that a copy of the book only pops up a few times a year, on average. Where all those used copies are is anyone's guess, but in modern times, it is not an easy title to find.

all the best, Michael (TheManInBlack) T
 
Talking about fashion designers in 1912 I am often surprised by how ahead of time some of the creations look - to me anyway ! I'm always seeing pictures of women from this era whether it's in period newspaper adverts or magazines and the designs ( if I were asked ) I'd have said were from the 1920's. For example I always thought the strap round the head with long feather in the middle was classic 20's night wear. But there are fashion pictures taken in 1911 and before with this look - and the women seem to be wearing a lot of make up than I would have thought. Maybe this is for the camera and it had not yet caught on ? Again I did not think women begain painting their nails or wore lipstick until the 1920's although make up has been around since the year dot. When did all this catch on ? It's interesting. Changing the subject I think Charlie Chaplin did his first film in 1913/14 - again much more early than I would have guessed. Kate seems to be wearing quite modern looking high heels shoes in Titanic - of course this is just a film with mistakes and she has to look sexy - but would not be surprised if shoes like that were quite common ?
 
Yes! I seem to be finding the "gilded age" period as you put it as interesting as the Titanic ( almost :-))) Always being surprised with just how much more advanced they were than the little brain had thought before. I will have a look for the Gilded Age topic, or has it not already began ?
 
Yup it has began. Cheers :-) A lot of your Duff Gordon fashion pictures look a head of their time I thought. Anyway I'll go over to that topic in the next few days.
 
Wallace' s bio should be first on the most in depth biographies list. it's a book called A Hymn For Eternity, by Yvonne Carroll. I must warn you that book is scarce to find but luckily i was able to purchase one from England.
 
I overlooked David Haisman's book about his mother, Edith Haisman (Brown).

I'll See You in New York.

ISBN 0 646 33236 8

Published in 1999 by Boolarong Press of Brisbane.
 
Hello,

I don't know if anyone is aware but I've just heard Brian Ticehurst has just released the 25th reprint of his book, 'Titanic Memorials World-wide Where They Are Located.' It details over a thousand memorials in 34 countries. His e-mail address is: [email protected]

John
 
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