xv [1], 503 p. 290 x 230 Bound in clean blue buckram, with bright, gilt title lettering to front board and spine, this 1938 First Edition is VG in good wrapper. Top edges gilt. Heraldic design in gilt to front panel, of sheep with sword and flag, with Foreword by Alderman William Lucas, Introduction by H.E. Nutter, Preface by author, 25 Chapters, 200 illustrations, including charts and plans and Index. Bevelled boards, clean end-papers, wrapper complete and un-clipped, but with some small nicks and closed tears and overall slightly grubby from handling; front panel of wrapper has odd small red spots. Published by Corporation of Preston and priced at originally one guinea, in 1938, this is a scholarly illustrated book published to mark 100 years in which the navigation was owned by Corporation Preston 1837 Ribble Navigation Improvement Company that confined the channel of the Ribble within stone embankment and deepened the channel by dredging. The First Ribble Navigation Company (1806-1838) was primarily concerned with the reclamation of estuary land by the straightening and fixing of the meandering River within the training walls. The Second Ribble Navigation Company (1838- 1853) continued this work, and by 1880 some 1100 acres of land had been reclaimed: during this period the new quays, later called the Victoria Quays, were established at the bottom of Marsh Lane, and the extent of the Port legally defined by the Customs and Excise. The Third Ribble Navigation Company (1853-1883) continued the improvement of the River channel to keep pace with the development in the size of ships. The company realised the requirement for heavy investment as early as 1861 with the proposal for a Dock basin, and following lengthy negotiations, the Ribble Navigation and Preston Dock Act of 1883 passed the undertaking to the Preston Corporation, and authorised the construction of the present Dock. This Act also authorised the diversion of the River approximately from the modern Penwortham by-pass bridge west towards Penwortham Marsh, to create an area for the Dock Basin astride the former river channel toward Water Lane. Construction work began in 1884, with the foundation stone of the Dock Basin laid in July 1885: the construction period was protracted, with the need to return to the House of Lords on occasions to increase the borrowing powers of the Corporation to meet the ambitious plans prepared by the Engineer, Edward Garlick. During the construction period all shipping was handled at the Diversion Quay built at the east end of the new river channel. For the Corporation of Preston at the Guardian Press, Fishergate.1938.