Five years later, Widener attended the Sotheby’s London auction of the library of Henry Huth, co-founder of the Bibliographical Society. There, Widener bought the second edition of Francis Bacon’s Essays. “I think I’ll take that little Bacon with me in my pocket,” he said, “and if I am shipwrecked it will go down with me.” A few days later, he and the book sank with the Titanic.
