Recreating Titanic and Her Sisters: A Visual History

New books on the Titanic are always coming out but this particular upcoming book has certainly caught my attention !

The authors ? Tad Fitch, J. Kent Layton & Bill Wormstedt no less.

"On the night of 14–15 April 1912, Titanic, a brand-new, supposedly unsinkable ship, the largest and most luxurious vessel in the world at the time, collided with an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage. Of the 2,208 people on board, only 712 were saved. The rest perished in the icy-cold waters of the North Atlantic, and the tragedy has fascinated and perplexed the world ever since.

This stunning book tells the story of not just the Titanic, but also of its sister ships, Olympic and Britannic. Maritime experts J. Kent Layton, Tad Fitch, and Bill Wormstedt tell the stories of these legendary liners with a compelling narrative alongside original artwork from up-and-coming artists, bringing to life the design, construction and service of the ships together with the wrecks of the ill-fated Titanic and Britannic.

From the cold, starry night when Titanic collided with her iceberg to the tragic wartime loss of Britannic and the impressive reliability of the long-lived Olympic, this cinematic and immersive new study captures all of the glory and drama of the Olympic-class age and allows readers to visualise Titanic and her sisters like never before."

Will this be a successor of sorts to the classic "An Illustrated History" ? I can't wait to find out. This one looks like it will be a cracker ! :D

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I pre-ordered this a while back and am looking forward to it, especially the new art!

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I wish I could pre-order it, but Covid and now Omicron are preventing me from doing that, and what's worse is that I have to wait 3-5 months for an order to arrive.

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Will this be a successor of sorts to the classic "An Illustrated History" ?

Personally, I never found Titanic: An Illustrated History anywhere close to being a classic. The narrative style suggests that it was written more for commercial success than as an information or research tool. It is short on detail, contains too many conjectures quoted as facts or near-facts and has some significant errors (background of Alice Cleaver, mention that Collapsibles A & B were lashed upside down etc). The real highlight for me from that book was the inclusion of Ken Marschall's superb paintings.

By sharp contrast, Fitch, Layton & Wormstedt's On A Sea Of Glass is by some distance the best written book about the maiden voyage and the disaster itself. Not only does it go into exhaustive and important detail, the various events before, during and after the sinking are narrated in such a way as to keep the "story" flowing chronologically - something IMO which would have been very difficult to do given the circumstances of the tragedy. I believe that the writers went to a great deal of effort to research, collate, edit and present those details in a very readable manner. Then there are the exhaustive and detailed appendicies, end notes, references and credits, which are in themselves separate sources for research.

Therefore, I hope that F, L & W's new book is more of a worthy successor (and I believe that it will be) to their own OASOG rather than any other work.

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Very well said, Arun!

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My copy arrived yesterday and there is no question this book is a worthy follow up to the excellent "On A Sea of Glass". In fact I believe that it should be included in that legendary (and no doubt endlessly debatable) list of "must have" publications for anyone remotely serious about Titanic. It is perhaps slightly deceiving - that it is primarily about artists bringing the ship to life. Indeed the artwork is fantastic. But the reality is that it is far more than that. Like OASOG, the accompanying text is just as absorbing and well constructed, aiming for balance and accuracy and hence debunking so many of the common myths that unfortunately plague Titanic even 110 years after the disaster.

Well done to authors Tad Fitch, J. Kent Layton and Bill Wormstedt - but even more so, a huge congratulations to the wonderful array of artists featured in the book whose work will be given a greater platform and wider audience thanks to this fantastic book.

Highly recommended!

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I am itching to order it but unfortunately have to wait another 3 weeks before I get back to the UK.

Excellent cover art by Ken Marschall.

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Excellent cover art by Ken Marschall.

No, the cover is not by Ken Marschall, it is a 3D render by Vasilije Ristović -his fantastic work features prominently in the book.

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Thanks for letting me know. It is a nice cover whoever did it. :)

I look forward to Ristovic's other work in the book.

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I ordered a signed copy from the authors this past week as part of my gift package for my 40th birthday! Should be here the day after my birthday next week! Will join my Titanic shrine in my living room! Can't wait!

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The Titanic's historic voyage is being brought to life in a new book showcasing artwork of the ship. Recreating Titanic and her Sisters: A Visual History brings the tragic tale of the Titanic to life on the 110th anniversary of its sinking.

The collection includes artwork, computer-generated images and rare photos of the ship. But as well as telling the tale of the Titanic's ill-fated maiden voyage it also tells the story of its sister ships the Olympic and Britannic.

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