Incredible photograph album belonging to Louis M. Ogden, a New York socialite aboard the RMS Carpathia during the Titanic disaster who helped to photograph, document, and assist the survivors. The album consists of over 500 first-generation glossy and matte-finish photos, each removably corner-mounted and displayed on 12 x 10 album pages bearing handwritten ink notations by Ogden. The photographs document the globe-spanning expedition he and his wife Augusta took over the course of 1911 and 1912, visually recording their trips to Algiers, the Sahara, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Gibraltar, Switzerland, Greece, and Austria. The album is highlighted by an assortment of 50 photos, ranging in size from 2.75 x 3 to 4.75 x 6.75, which chronicle life aboard the Carpathia and the mid-April 1912 rescue of the Titanic survivors. While condition of the album itself is rough (missing spine and cover, fragile pages, etc), the photos themselves are in overall fine condition.
The most significant of the Carpathia and Titanic photos are found on six successive pages midway through the album, which Ogden has dedicated: “The Titanic Rescue, April 15th 1912.” The section features a total of 29 photos and includes images of the late arrival of the SS Californian, the approach and rescue of Titanic emergency lifeboats 1, 6, and 14, and an unprecedented assemblage of 11 photos of icebergs, with images depicting them floating both nearby and on the distant horizon of the North Atlantic; the first such photo captures the very peak responsible for sinking the Titanic, which Ogden has decreed as “The berg the Titanic struck, taken at sunrise.” Other notable photos feature various crew members and passengers of the RMS Carpathia, as well as several of Captain Arthur Rostron, two of which are signed by him in fountain pen, "A. H. Rostron," with one showing him posing with Ogden and his wife on the ship's deck. Also includes a miniature loving cup engraved on the front, "R. M. S. 'Carpathia.'" The first vessel to respond to and discover the lifeboats of the Titanic in the early hours of April 15th, the RMS Carpathia cautiously navigated through ice fields en route to its rescue of 705 survivors. A tremendous archive of first generation photos that not only documents the harrowing rescue, but likewise proffers an unprecedented assemblage of iceberg photographs—images of the two-peak Titanic iceberg are tremendously rare. A truly one-of-a-kind and museum-quality collection.
