This book is about the tow boats and commercial services of the J. D. Spreckels Company out of San Francisco, it is titled "North Pacific Coast Ports" and was given out with "Compliments of J.D. Spreckels" in 1894, and it is filled with photos, rules and regulations for tow boats and ads for other companies affiliated with the ship-to-shore business in the late 1800's. The book has deep blue embossed boards with gilt lettering on the front cover, green patterned endpapers with the inscription of "John Kitching, HMA Ship Cooee, Sydney Australia" on the front paste-down, the owner's name with "3rd Officer" added on the blank page before the first page of the book, then an ad for J.D. Spreckels & Bros. Co. - they were shipping and commission merchants and general importers based in San Francisco - a photo of the "Fearless" (one of the tow boats for the company) and a list of all six towboats owned by Spreckels, the bottom of that page also reads "these boats are fitted with Fire and Wrecking Pumps and all Appliances for Assisting Vessels in Distress", the copyright page reads "Compiled By Fred'k S. Samuels Of J. D. Spreckels & Bros. Co., 1894, Press of Wm. C. Brown Co.", a one-page Preface, a one-page Index, 86 pages of text and fourteen pages of ads at the rear, the book has a total of ten photos (six of the tow boats employed by Spreckels and four that show coal bunkers used by Spreckels and ports of call like Honolulu in the late 1800's), rules and regulations for commissions and brokerages, towing fees, customs, manifests, tonnage taxes and so on, and three fold-out maps from 1889 (one of the harbor of San Francisco, one of San Diego, and one of the sea coast and harbors near Vancouver Island and Washington Sound), and the book is unpaginated - the pages are unnumbered. The book measures 8 5/8 x 6 1/8 in. wide and is in good condition. The binding is tight, there are spots and light discoloration on the covers, the pages are rather clean, with a couple of faint brown spots here and there, some tears along the top edges on a few pages, some corner creases and vertical folds on a couple of pages at the rear, and overall a very solid book which depicts a fascinating history of commercial boats along the North Pacific Coast in the late 1800's. The book is rare - we could find only two listings for this book offered online and they go for $200 and $500 - and we are starting the bidding at $80 #155 #1605