The Seventy-Four Gun Ship (4 Vol, Complete) Jean Boudriot, David Roberts (translator)

***Jean Boudriot's celebrated masterpiece--spectacularly illustrated throughout--on the potent French wooden sailing 74-gun warship*** Complete in four volumes and in beautiful condition. Each volume is NEAR FINE to FINE Volume I: Hull Construction - 16 plates, 106 figures Volume II: Fitting Out the Hull - 26 plates, 107 figures Volume III: Masts, Sailing, Rigging -13 plates, 134 figures Volume IV: Manning, Shiphandling -17 plates, 167 figures Published in 1986 by The Naval Institute Press in Annapolis, Maryland. Translated into English by David Roberts. First American edition, first printing. Large quartos, 12 3/8" x 9.5" In their original navy-blue cloth covered boards with white lettering. With their original and striking, full-color illustrated dust jackets. Collated and complete. Hundreds of color and black-and-white illustrations: plates (including 3- and 4-page foldout plates), figures, schematics, drawings and tables to complement the thoroughly complete description of the expert write-up on the French 74-gun-ship's design, manufacture, navigation, sailing, warring capabilities, crew and more. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jean Pierre Paul Boudriot, (March 1921 in Dijon -- February 2015 in Paris) was a French naval architect and notable historian of weaponry and naval engineering. Boudriot was one on the foremost instigators of the renaissance of naval archaeology and of arsenal modelism. He notably authored a 4-volume magnum opus on 74-guns, Le vaisseau de 74 canons. The "seventy-four" was a type of two-decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently developed 64-gun ships. Impressed with the performance of several captured French seventy-fours, the British Royal Navy quickly adopted similar designs, classing them as third rates. The type then spread to the Spanish, Dutch, Danish and Russian navies. Condition Report: NF to FINE. All have some light dust on top edge. VOLUME I The book is FINE - Firmly bound, square spine, sharp corners, tight pages. Clean, bright white pages. No writing, foxing or ex libris marks. Gorgeous plates. The dust jacket is FINE - vibrant, colorful, unfaded. No rips, tears or chips. Just some negligible edge wear crinkling. VOLUME II The book is NEAR FINE - Firmly bound, square spine, tight pages. Slight bumping of corners which has led to some slight creasing (curling of tips) of page corners. Clean, white pages. No writing, foxing or ex libris marks. Gorgeous plates. The dust jacket is FINE - vibrant, colorful, unfaded. No rips, tears or chips. Just some negligible edge wear crinkling. VOLUME III The book is NEAR FINE+ - Firmly bound, square spine, tight pages. Some dust on the boards and a few very small spots on fore-edge. Clean, white pages. No writing, foxing or ex libris marks. Gorgeous plates. The dust jacket is FINE - vibrant, colorful, unfaded. No rips, tears or chips. Just some negligible edge wear crinkling. VOLUME IV The book is NEAR FINE - Firmly bound, square spine with very slight spine lean, tight pages. Some dust on the boards and a few very small abrasion marks on fore-edge. Clean, white pages. No writing, foxing or ex libris marks. Gorgeous plates. The dust jacket is FINE - vibrant, colorful, unfaded. No rips, tears or chips. Just some negligible edge wear crinkling. A superior copy, uncommon to find all four volumes together; scarce to find in this gorgeous condition!