The 1st class library and writing room on the promenade deck on board the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company passenger/cargo liner Chusan (1950). The photographer is looking aft and to starboard showing a junior officer, possibly a junior assistant purser, sitting in an armchair reading a document. There are two 3-bay bookcases separated by a cupboard with a clock above it and the clock is reading 12.57. Above the bookcase is the Latin inscription "Vita sine litteris mors est" which translates as "Life without literature is death".