Bosqui Eng. Co.

Edward Bosqui (1832–1917) was a Canadian artist and engraver born in Montreal. In 1850, he emigrated to California, eventually settling in San Francisco, where he became a well-known patron of the arts.

Little is known about Bosqui’s early life and training, but in 1863 he founded the Bosqui Engraving and Printing Company in San Francisco. Being a boom town, his firm did well in the beginning, living off the ample advertising opportunities that San Francisco and California presented. During this period of commercial success, Bosqui also dedicated himself to promoting culture – in particular, the arts. He was, among other things, a founding member of the San Francisco Art Association, which later would become the San Francisco Art Institute and which still exists today as the city’s Museum of Modern Art.

Bosqui’s success was not to last, though. In 1893, during one of the great conflagrations in early San Francisco (probably the Thomas Dye Works fire on August 9th), the Bosqui Engraving and Printing Company burnt to the ground. Four years later, another fire within the city destroyed his home.