A Beautifully Prepared Memento
Both American Express and Thomas Cook, who shared the responsibility of providing shore excursions and cruise staff on board Caronia, produced sometimes quite lavish books as mementos. Some of these, including the one for the 1953 Coronation Cruise, were illustrated with hand-drawn sketches, often using gold-leaf in their colouration.
Clearly no expense was spared in the production of these, because the pages were hand-finished, and then lithographic images were individually “tipped in” to some pages. Because this was a costly and time-consuming process, rarely was there more than one lithograph attached into one of these books.
However, the 1953 Coronation Cruise had four of these lithographs. The first of these is a head and shoulders portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, from a photograph by Dorothy Wilding. The second is a larger than usual copy of C.E. Turner's watercolour of RMS Caronia. This was usually the only litho ever attached.
Towards the back of the Coronation book is a photo of the portrait of HM The Queen and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh by Edward Halliday (which dominated an end wall of Caronia's main lounge). Just within the rear cover is an almost full page litho of a Beefeater, from a painting by Miss Denise Bates. Sadly, nowhere in the book is the illustrator identified or credited.
The book issued by Thomas Cook for the 1954 Japan / South Pacific cruise shows its illustrators as being Claire and George Louden, although the drawing style is markedly different between the two books. Is there anyone who could possibly identify who the illustrators for the 1953 Coronation book were?
This page can only give you a taste of the quality of the images and printing. Enjoy! If you have any information, however small, please feel free to contribute.
