Definitely the most sought after of all Titanic signatures, Smith commanded Titanic’s maiden voyage. An extremely notable and experienced captain, Smith, the highest paid captain afloat, logged over two million miles and twenty-six years on White Star liners. Celebrated by both crew and passengers, Smith was often called by some the “Millionaire’s Captain.” Smith was transferred to Titanic from her sister ship Olympic, for what was expected to be his final voyage before retirement. Smith had great confidence in both his ships and his experience as captain. In response to questions about his career, Smith would often reply, “I have never been in an accident of any sort worth speaking about…I never saw a wreck and have never been wrecked, nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort.” Despite that boast, Smith’s safety record had been marred by an incident in 1899 when a White Star liner under his command, the Germanic, capsized in New York Harbor as a result of heavy icing. Other distressing situations occurred on the Olympic in 1911 when Smith damaged a tugboat while guiding the Olympic to port. A few months later, when the Olympic was departing for New York with sixty American millionaires aboard, it collided with the 7,350-ton Royal Navy cruiser Hawke, nearly capsizing the smaller vessel and crumpling its bow like a tin can, ripping a 40-foot-high gash the Olympic’s starboard side that penetrated eight feet into her hull. In the years since Titanic sank, many have tried to blame Smith for her sinking, due to the fact that he decided to forego a lifeboat drill on her calm first Sabbath day at sea, his decision to speed up through the ice field, despite dangerous ice warnings. It has also been suggested that if Smith had left the watertight doors open, causing the ship to flood more evenly, the bow would not have been pulled under so soon, and might have remained afloat indefinitely. However, new evidence shows this procedure would have doomed the ship to flip over sooner, causing an even greater loss of life. Essentially, what Smith did was correct, however unimaginable, to save as many lives as he could. Leather bound ledger, 9 x 10.75, approximately 500 pages, marked “Book No. 1/March 1896 to August 1912.” Belonging to a Savile Row tailor in London, it contains approximately 4000 signatures of the noble, wealthy and famous of the world who sought to have their suits, uniforms and coats made by these prestigious clothiers. It was customary that a previous customer must refer the gentleman who wanted a custom-made suit. The gentleman would write his signature in one of the eight 4.25 x 2.5 spaces on the page, with his address. Highlight of the entire ledger is an ink signature, “Edw. J. Smith,” adding “Hanley,” the town in which he was born and resided, under his signature. Other notables in the ledger include: Sydney Paget, illustrator of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series; James Roosevelt, father of Franklin; Vice President Adlai Stevenson; Sir Adolphe Caron, Canadian Minister for Defense and Militia; Count James Pourtales; publisher Arthur H. Scribner; Lord Herbert Scott, who fought in the Boer Wars; other noblemen including Count Lewenhaupt, Marquis Visconti Venosta and Rear Admiral T. Swineburne. The rise of Savile Row began when James Poole came to London in 1806 from Shropshire, to open his first shop, a linen drapers, in Everett Street, Brunswick Square. Poole became a tailor by chance, for when Napoleon escaped from Elba he joined a Volunteer Corps whose members had to provide their own equipment. Unpracticed in tailoring, James and his wife Mary cut and stitched his tunics so well that by the time of Waterloo, Poole was flooded with orders and set up as a military tailor. By 1822, he had opened an emporium in Regent Street and a year later made his headquarters at 4 Old Burlington Street, adjoining Savile Row. It was here that his son Henry, who inherited the business in 1846, was to achieve an even greater reputation, leaving an indelible mark on British bespoke tailoring and starting the long tradition of the Savile Row suit. Pooles still retain their customer sales and livery ledgers from 1846 and it was once remarked "Go through the pages of the Almanack de Gotha from 1850 to the end of civilization in 1914 and we could match page for page from our old ledgers" Light toning and soiling to pages, scattered surface wear and loss to covers and spine and some small notations to some of the signatures, otherwise fine condition. With the ledger containing so many unresearched signatures, highlighted by the most sought after autograph for titanic collectors, the entire ledger has incredible possibilities and rewards for the determined researcher. R&R COA.
