The Inking of Titanic

James Cameron’s Oscar-winning “Titanic” remains afloat in theaters; bookstores are still displaying the flood of Titanic-related books, and the Queen Mary has extended its Titanic artifacts exhibition through Labor Day.

But the tidal wave of Titanic mania set off by the release of the Hollywood blockbuster in December clearly is subsiding.

Publisher Doug Westfall of Orange just hopes he hasn’t missed the boat.

He needn’t be too concerned. Titanic buffs undoubtedly will appreciate his latest offering from the Paragon Agency, Westfall’s home-based electronic-publishing house that specializes in historic books.

It’s a reprint of “Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic,” a limited-edition book originally published within a month of the sinking of the great luxury liner at 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912.

Edited by Marshall Everett (“The Great Descriptive Writer”), the illustrated book taps newspaper and eyewitness accounts of survivors and testimony of crew members who appeared before the Senate panel inquiry that began in New York City the day after the Carpathia steamed into the harbor with survivors.

In the hyperbolic prose of the period, the title page describes the book as “A Graphic and Thrilling Account of the Sinking of the greatest Floating Palace ever built, carrying down to watery graves more than 1,500 souls. . . . Giving Exciting Escapes from death and acts of heroism not equaled in ancient or modern times, told by THE SURVIVORS.”

Among the 66 illustrations are photographs, drawings, diagrams and political cartoons. In one cartoon lambasting the shipping industry, Uncle Sam is manning a ship’s wheel, saying, “By ginger, I’ll take a firmer grip on this business hereafter.”

“Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic” was published by an independent press in early May 1912, Westfall said.

The book-business then was “exactly like today,” he said. “It was a flash in the pan: ‘Let’s get this out and make some money on it.’ ”

Westfall believes “Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic” may be the first book “of consequence” to be published on the disaster. If it’s not the first, he said, the 350-page volume is unquestionably the longest and most detailed of the early books about the ocean liner.

“It has more data, information, charts and photographs than other books at that time,” he said. “Even the ones that came a year later still didn’t show the detail this does. Ours was the first book to show the chart of the saved versus the dead--that kind of stuff.”

One photograph shows a Titanic lifeboat being hoisted aboard the Carpathia; another shows White Star Line managing director J. Bruce Ismay being questioned by the Senate investigative committee in the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria. (Cameras were banned from the proceedings, but Westfall said an enterprising paparazzo sneaked in.)

One of the most intriguing photographs is of the iceberg struck by the Titanic. (The ship was painted red from just above the water line to the keel and, according to eye witnesses, the iceberg had a red color near the water line.)

“I just think it’s an impressive piece of work,” Westfall said. “It’s the best reading I’ve had on any of the Titanic stuff. It’s just captivating.”

Most captivating are the accounts of survivors.

From 17-year-old John B. Thayer Jr., whose father, the second vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, went down with the Titanic: “About this time, people began jumping from the stern. I thought of jumping myself, but was afraid of being stunned on hitting the water. As the boat started to sink, we stood by the rail. [Milton C.] Long and myself said good-bye to each other and jumped up on the rail. He did not jump clear, but slid down the side of the ship. I never saw him again.”

Observed Westfall: “This is the kind of book that--if you’re really into ‘Titanic’ . . . it’s just incredible the number of scenes that contain true stories that you don’t realize because they’re background characters.”

In reprinting the vintage volume, “we tried to make the book look and feel like the original,” he said.

Westfall has, however, made a few concessions.

He reset the list of names of those who died into a larger, more readable typeface and--as a tribute--moved the list from the back of the book to the front.

Unlike the hardback original, the new edition is softcover. And though he retained the original green cover and gold typeface, he printed the original black and white cover illustration of the sinking Titanic in red and yellow “to give it some color.”

The haste and apparent inexperience of the man who originally published the book has led to some confusion over its actual title.

The cover says “Story of the Wreck of the Titanic,” while the title page calls it “Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic”--the title Westfall is using.

“We debated over changing the [cover] title but then said, ‘No, that’s the way it was published in 1912; let’s leave it,’ ” the 48-year-old said. “It was something that somebody threw together. He was not a publisher, I’m sure. He was going on sensationalism.”

The copy of the original book was discovered in the late 1970s by Westfall’s friend Michael Brecht, a Pasadena antiquities dealer who bought it for $15.

“He immediately showed it to me,” recalled the longtime history buff and writer, who remembers being impressed by the amount of detailed information in the book.

Westfall said Brecht telephoned him shortly after “Titanic” hit movie theaters in December.

“It was like a 20-year-old conversation that just picked up where it left off. He said, ‘Have you seen the movie?. . .You want to do the book, don’t you?’ ”

Although production problems caused a delay in publication, Westfall didn’t intend to immediately jump on the Titanic bandwagon.

Being a small publisher, he knew he couldn’t compete with the larger publishers. “We would have gotten lost in the soup,” he says.

More than 70 Titanic books hit bookstores in the wake of the movie’s release, the vast majority of them reprints of books originally published in the 1980s and early ‘90s, he said.

“Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic” is the third historic book published by The Paragon Agency, a family-run business with Westfall and his wife, Jackie, sharing the title of publisher.

Their first historic book, published in 1997, was “Letters From the Field: Wallace at the Little Big Horn,” featuring the correspondence of an officer of the 7th Cavalry who fought at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Earlier this year, the Westfalls reprinted “Capistrano Nights,” a 1930 book by Father John O’Sullivan, who was known as the restorer of Mission San Juan Capistrano.

When considering publication of historic books, Westfall said they are “interested in original source material.” Which is why he was so eager to reprint the Titanic book.

“This is first-hand stuff; we’re not getting it second hand. That’s why this book is so valuable. It’s filled with the immediate knowledge available--accurate or not.”

Although the book contains differing numbers for those who perished and conflicting versions of events, Westfall said, “You have to look at the fact that it’s the person giving his impression of what went on. History is made by those who write it, but historic data isn’t always in alignment. You don’t always have the same facts because you’re getting it from different people, and they saw it differently.

“This is true history because there really is no one story.”

“Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic” ($19.12) can be purchased over the Internet at www.SpecialBooks.com--or by calling the Paragon Agency at (714) 771-0652.

Westfall will present a display of photographs and replicas of Titanic memorabilia at a book signing at 3:30 p.m. June 9 at P.J.’s Abby, 182 S. Orange St., Orange.

Also This Week

Martin J. Smith, author of “Shadow Image,” and Charles Knief, author of “Sand Dollars,” will sign at 1 p.m. today at Mystery Ink/Upchurch-Brown Bookstore, 384 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach.

* Poets Ethan Rogers and Donato Martinez will read at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Gypsy Den Cafe and Reading Room in the Lab, 2930 Bristol St., Costa Mesa.

* Thomas Perry, author of “Face Changers,” will sign at 1 p.m., and Les Roberts, author of “A Shoot in Cleveland,” will sign at 2 p.m. Saturday at Book Carnival, 348 S. Tustin Ave., Orange.

* Julie Mammano, author of “Rhinos Who Surf,” will sign at 2 p.m. Saturday at Martha’s Bookstore, 308 1/2 Marine Ave., Balboa Island.

* John Fuchs, author of “Death of a Dad: The Nursery School Murders,” will sign at noon Saturday at Mystery Ink/Upchurch-Brown Bookstore, 384 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach.

Send information about book-related events at least 10 days before event to Dennis McLellan, O.C. Books & Authors, Life & Style, The Times, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.