Beau Voyage - Life Aboard the Last Great Ships.

London: Bracken Books. Very Good/Very Good. 1981. Hard Cover. 4to 1851701346 No extra postage will be asked for within the UK. Dust jacket complete. Black cloth boards with bright gilt titling on spine. Small bump. No ownership inscription. Illustrated with 331 b/w photographs including a gallery of notable ships. 271 pages clean and tight. The great transatlantic ocean liners of the twentieth century-the Normandie, the Queen Mary, the United States among them-combined the opulence of the Gilded Age with the sleekness and power of modern mechanical genius. The focus of patriotic fervor and almost ridiculously intense competition, they became expressions of the cultural and industrial resources of the nations they represented. Around them evolved an international style of grand luxe: restless mobility and pampered leisure, extravagant whimsy and innovative contrivance. These streamlined pleasure palaces embodied the aspirations, the achievements, and the follies of an entire era. Here, in more than 300 vintage photographs-many made public for the first time-and in the brilliant text of a noted poet and scholar who is himself the veteran of 64 crossings, we come as close as is possible to reliving life aboard the last great ships, from embarkation through arrival: the varied rounds of social and recreational activity in sumptuously appointed rooms, the Lucullan tables, the beguiling amusements, the clockwork-like changes of elegant wardrobes, the preparations and the protocol, the intimate and fleeting camaraderie so typical of sea voyages. We follow the building of these mammoth vessels, from keel-laying to launching, from the installation of soigne interiors through their brobdingnagian provisioning and the laying-down of vintage cellars. We share the intricate daily life of passengers, steerage, and crew. And we watch the ships through the declining years as, one by one, they succumbed to disaster, destruction, or the attritions brought on by war, changing economics, and the habits of a more hurried world. Often visually stunning, of great architectural and social interest, these photographs-along with the detailed observations, charming reminiscences, and keen wit of Mr. Brinnin-provide us with an unparalleled record of these ships and with a singular human portrait of their splendid voyages. BEAU VOYAGE is a book to be cherished as travel literature, as cultural history, and as pure, nostalgic pleasure. .