The eventful thirty years between 1897 and 1927 was an era in which the maritime powers of the world vied for dominance on the high seas, and first-class passengers travelled in unprecedented splendor in what were then the largest and fastest ships ever built. This sumptuous volume, beautifully printed on coated stock, recalls the glorious early years of elegant transatlantic travel.
Over 190 historic photographs depict exterior and interior views of 101 ships, including the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse (first of the superliners, 1897), Prinzessin Victoria Luise (first passenger ship designed exclusively for cruising), the Virginian (one of the two first steam-turbine-driven liners on the North Atlantic), the Imperator, Vaterland, Bismarck, Lusitania, Mauretania, Balmoral Castle (used as a British royal yacht in 1910), Titanic, Olympic, France, Britannic, Aquitania (over four city blocks long) and dozens more, including lesser-known smaller ships of the 1920's — Albertic, Montcalm, Laconia, Transylvania, Veendam and Colombo. Superb vintage views recall the dazzling splendor of luxurious "floating palaces" — the lavish interiors of lounges, smoking rooms, libraries, salons, extravagant suites, ballrooms and dining rooms decorated in Italian Renaissance, Spanish, Louis XVI, Georgian, Queen Anne, Tudor, Moorish and a host of other styles.