Bancroft’s iconic 1873 Blue-Line Map of San Francisco.
Bancroft’s Official Guide Map Of City And County Of San Francisco…1873.
Out of stock
Description
Handsome, iconic map of San Francisco before the 1906 earthquake. Includes an inset of the Bay Area; in Marin County, Sausalito is labeled with the old town spelling Saucelito. The natural shoreline, well inland from the current Embarcadero sea wall, is marked in blue. The city was expanded by infilling beginning in the Gold Rush period as a way of reaching deeper waters, creating new space, and rebuilding after the numerous fires that devastated San Francisco in its early years.
The map is very detailed, with a key along the bottom that locates hundreds of points of interest. Most of the city is laid out except for the area occupied by San Miguel Rancho. Blocks that are occupied are shaded; only a third to half of the city is occupied.
Many interesting features of late 19th century San Francisco are found on this map, including the cemeteries at Lone Mountain, the Southern Pacific Railroad lines arriving from the southern peninsula, the Alms House Tract (Laguna Honda hospital today), Spring Valley Water Company reservoir, and more.
Circles radiate outward from the Ferry Building one apart mile apart, a reflection of the importance of ferry travel in the Bay Area decades before the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges.
Several spurious street names are shown in the Marina District, including Tonguin and Lewis. These were planned to be on landfill but were never actually created; Tonguin Street is instead Marina Boulevard, and Lewis is Marina Green Drive.
Cartographer(s):
Hubert Howe Bancroft (May 5, 1832 – March 2, 1918) was an American historian and ethnologist who wrote, published and collected works concerning the western United States, Texas, California, Alaska, Mexico, Central America and British Columbia.
In March 1852, Bancroft was provided with an inventory of books to sell and was sent to the booming California city of San Francisco to set up a West Coast regional office of the firm. Bancroft was successful in building his company, entering the world of publishing in the process. He also became a serious collector of books, building a collection numbering into the tens of thousands of volumes.
In 1868, he resigned from his business in favor of his brother, A. L. Bancroft. He had accumulated a great library of historical material and abandoned business to devote himself entirely to writing and publishing history.
Condition Description
Excellent.
References
