This is a first edition three-volume set about ships, all written between 1925 and 1930. One is titled “Slave Ships And Slaving” By George Francis Dow, With An Introduction By Captain Ernest H. Pentecost, R.N.R. and published in Salem, Massachusetts by The Marine Research Society. The other two titles are “Ships And Shipping, A Collection Of Pictures Including Many American Vessels Painted By Antoine Roux And His Sons With Introductory Text By Louis Bres And Reminiscences By Edouard Gaubert, Translated And Annotated By Alfred Johnson” and “The Baltimore Clipper, Its Origin And Development” by Howard Irving Chapelle. All three are limited and numbered editions on special paper (“On B-R 100% Rag Paper”), “One Of Ninety-Seven Of Which Eighty-Seven Are For Sale”, and each copy is Number 56 in the set, so the volumes have matching numbers, and the top edge on each volume is gilt. “Slave Ships And Slaving” is an historical account of the slave trade among British and American slavers and recounts the experience of Africans captured and taken from their homes to a foreign land; it is 1/4 bound, has gilt lettering on the spine, marbled boards, blank endpapers, a frontis showing bartering for slaves on the Gold Coast, a two-page Preface, one page of Contents, a five-page List of Illustrations, a nineteen-page Introduction, 344 pages of text followed by a five-page Index, for a total of 349 pages, and an additional leaf of Publications of the Marine Research Society at the end (with uncut pages), deckled edges, it measures 10 1/4 x 8 in. wide and was published in 1927. The book has a tight binding, with a white speck on the front board, a blip of foxing on the title page and light browning in the margins on a couple of pages, light fraying at the crown, light rubbing and wear along the edges and at the tips, and the deckled edges have some wear or chips on a couple of pages in front - it looks like some edges were uncut and someone tried to open the uncut pages. “Ships And Shipping” by Roux is 1/4 bound, with gilt lettering on the spine, marbled boards, blue marbled endpapers, a colored frontis showing naval combat between a French and English warship in 1798, a four-page Preface and one page of Contents, with 61 pages in French and English about the “dynasty of marine painters” under Antoine Roux and his Sons, page 63 through 261 contain beautiful plates of the various clippers painted by the Roux family - the plates are crisp and clean - then a four-page Index and one leaf at the end listing the publications of the Marine Research Society, for a total of 271 pages in all, the book measures 11 x 8 1/4 in. wide and was published in 1925. There is light rubbing on the crown, light wear at the tips, with clean pages and a tight binding. “The Baltimore Clipper'' by Chapelle is 3/4 bound, with the smallest black leather tips in the corners, gilt lettering on the spine, marbled boards, gray marbled endpapers, a black and white fronts of Baltimore Clipper Privateer Schooner, a one-page Preface, one page of Contents, a two-page list of Plates, a two-page list of plans that show how the clippers were built, 175 pages of text, an appendix with tables showing the length and proportion of the masts, yards, and booms of the schooners, and a four-page Index at the rear, for a total of 192 pages, followed by an additional leaf with the publications of the Marine Research Society, the book measures 11 3/4 x 8 3/4 in. wide and was published in 1930. The pages are very clean and the binding is tight, with wear at the crown and very light rubbing on the heel, and overall the three books are an attractive first edition set of maritime history, with the all-important book about the slave trade. #1674