Collections of an Only Child: Seventy Years a Bibliophile, the Library of Justin G. Schiller

The Official British Government Report on the Sinking of the Titanic, From the Library of a Director of the White Star Line's Chief Rival

London: Published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, May-June, 1912. Comprising 36 reports and one appendix, bound into two volumes. Tall 4to. 479; (1), (xiv), (2); (481)-959, (1). Full contemporary blue buckram, ruled in blind, each front board stamped in gilt with crest of a stag's head, boards unevenly faded, spines faded; bookseller's ink stamp at top of front paste-down (Henry Young & Sons Liverpool); scattered foxing to text; vertical crease at center of most sheets. From the library of Sir Percy Elly Bates, 4th Baronet, and with his family crest in gilt on front board of each volume.

Bound with:

Shipping Casualties (Loss of the Steamship "Titanic.")
London: Published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1912. (ii), 74 pp. With an in-text engraving of the Titanic. Original blue printed limp wrappers bound in; scattered light foxing.

The official British government report on the Titanic disaster. Conducted by the Wreck Commission on behalf of the Board of Trade, the investigation was overseen by High Court Judge Lord Mersey. The inquiry began on May 2, 1912--less than a month after the ship's sinking on April 12--and took place at the London Scottish Drill Hall. The investigation continued for 36 near-consecutive days and interviewed 96 witnesses, whose testimony is printed within. The appendix at rear of the first volume provides tables listing the number of passengers per class, and survivors, as well as information regarding the ship's crew and operational components.

The Shipping Casualties report bound in at the rear of the second volume provides a highly detailed account of the entire event, including notes on the Titanic's composition, its crew, the ship's journey, as well as reports on its speed, the weather, iceberg warnings, and a description of its collision ("The injuries to the ship...were of such a kind that she foundered in two hours and forty minutes"). The report further describes damages to the ship, its sinking, an account of the rescue operations, the number of those saved, and of causalities. The final section lists recommendations from the Commission, regarding water-tight compartments, lifeboats and rafts, etc.

Sir Percy Elly Bates, 4th Baronet (1879-1946) was a Liverpool shipbuilder. In 1910 he became a director of the English ship building firm Cunard, then the chief rival of the White Star Line, builders of the Titanic. He became deputy chairman of Cunard in 1922, and chairman in 1930, a position he held until his death. During the Great Depression, the White Star Line and Cunard merged to become the Cunard-White Star Line.