About this Item
Charming, beautiful souvenir booklet issued presumably by Cunard, but no publishing information found in the booklet, which is demonstrably scarce. Only one copy located on OCLC First Search, at the Peabody Essex Museum, and no copies found in commerce at the date of this listing. N.d., late 1920s. Tall folio, 37.5 by 21 cm. Unpaginated, [32] pp. The conceit of the brochure is that it is a breezy, very long, handwritten letter serving also as a diary composed by a insouciant flapper on her first Transatlantic crossing, this one being on the R. M. S. Aquitania. Throughout the text she gushes about such things as the courtesy of the staff and the many wonderful amenities and marvels of the ocean liner, and far more so than an actual young woman would have devoted her authorial energies towards, even if she were so overwhelmed by all aspects of the ship. While certainly not distinguished literature, though, the text does helpfully touch on the many aspects of the luxury seagoing experience on a ship that for those on it, formed a sort of genuine community and small world for the week-plus duration of the trip. In any case, it is the color illustrations that enchant. Every other page is a full-page color illustration, with a two page color plate in the center. The other half of pages, which contain the text, have multiple illustrated vignettes surrounding, and cutting into, the text. These illustrations, rendered with confident, slightly impressionistic, dash, convey the joyful, party mood that many of today indeed associate with such voyages of a bygone day. Depicted is the great variety of ship-borne experience -- the boarding, the state rooms, the dining rooms, the promenading on the deck, including with dogs, the swimming pool, card playing, shuffleboard and other recreational activities, concerts, etc. etc. All of which will make many of wistful for a kind of trip that belongs to the earlier era. Condition: wraps with soiling, rubbing -- color abraded off surface in spots, especially by edges and joint. Scattered, mostly light, soiling within, which generally is thumb soiling. Corner crease to leaves, with flattened dogear on rear cover.
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