DALLAS (AP) _ Two letters written by first-class Titanic passengers - one who survived and one who perished with the ship - are going up for auction next month in New York.

The letters, written on White Star Lines stationary that says "On board R.M.S. 'Titanic,'" will be offered in the city and online Jan. 16 by the Spink Smythe auction house.

The letters are expected to sell for $10,000 to $20,000 each, said Robert Litzenberger, a historical autograph specialist at Spink Smythe's Dallas office.

The auction house said the letters were put in the mail from Southampton, England, just before the ship departed on April 10, 1912, for New York. The ship, on its maiden voyage, struck an iceberg and sank early on the morning of April 14.

In a letter dated April 10, Adolphe Saalfeld, chairman of an English pharmacy company, wrote to his wife that he'd just spent hours roaming about "this wonderful boat." He tells her he likes his cabin and he's the first man to write a letter on board.

Litzenberger said Saalfeld, who survived in a lifeboat full of women and children, died in England in 1926. Litzenberger said some of the perfume samples he was carrying were eventually recovered in the wreckage.

The second letter was written by George Graham, of Harriston, Canada, a sales manager for the Eaton's department store company. It was written to a business colleague in Berlin. In the letter, also dated April 10, Graham expresses his "good wishes" and tells the colleague he hopes to see him the next year.

Litzenberger said that the consigner of the letters does not want to be identified. He said both letters were purchased at auction in the 1990s.

Karen Kamuda, vice president of the Titanic Historical Society, said that there was a renewal of interest in the Titanic after the discovery of its wreckage in 1985, which was heightened with the release of the movie "Titanic" in 1997.

Kamuda said that she considers letters that describe the ship more important than those that stick to the mundane.

AP-ES-12-30-08 1825EST

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