Fore-and-Afters, Crowninshield 1940. This maritime book is titled ?Fore-and-Afters? by B. B. Crowninshield and published in Boston by Houghton Mifflin in1940, it?s a first edition, according to WorldCat, it was printed at the Riverside Press in Cambridge, Mass., and it comes with the original box and glassine dustjacket. The book has linen boards, gilt lettering on a red label on the spine, gilt lettering in a red box on the front cover, bevelled edges on the front and back boards, a red topstain, blank endpapers, a half-title, the title page, the copyright page is dated 1940, then a two-page Preface, three pages of Contents, a five-page list of illustrations, a two-page Introduction by Charles Francis Adams, 100 pages of text, followed by 64 beautiful black-and-white plates, French-fold uncut pages, and the box has a pictorial paste-down on the front. Crowninshield (1867 - 1948) was an American naval architect who specialized in the design of racing yachts, and he designed the schooner ?Adventures?, which was launched in 1913 and later named a National Historic Landmark, and fore-and-afters were the sails that were placed on the front and back of a ship, and their history goes way back, long before the time of the Roman empire. The book measures 11 3/4 x 7 7/8 in. wide and is in great condition The binding is tight, the pages, text, and plates are very clean, and there are just faint brown spots along the edges of the spine and a tad of red (probably from the topstain) at the crown and on one tip. (And for people who don?t know, a topstain on a book is not a bad thing - it does not indicate a blemish or damage, but was probably put there on purpose by the printer for decorative effect.) The glassine dust jacket is in tiptop shape, and the top part of the box has a couple of corner splits and that?s it. Overall an attractive book with a great history and beautiful black-and-white plates that should make any mariner schoon, or swoon. #159 #1616