PIONEER BOOK STORE. MARVIN & HITCHCOCK, BOOKSELLERS AND STATIONERS, DEALERS IN MUSIC AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS....
[San Francisco Bookseller]:
[San Francisco. ca. 1855]. Broadside, 7 1/4 x 5 inches, with engraved illustration in the upper half. Upper left edge a bit rough. Some light soiling. Overall good. A charming handbill advertising the early San Francisco booksellers, Marvin & Hitchcock, and their Pioneer Book Store. The shop was located at 168 Montgomery Street, and carried a wide inventory, from standard works and juvenilia to books on law, medicine, agriculture, music, religion, and works in French, German and Spanish. They also dealt in office furniture, pianos, and other musical instruments. Cowan notes that the firm began in March, 1850 and eventually carried an inventory of 50,000 volumes. Though the business was damaged in the San Francisco fires of 1850 it rebuilt and lasted for many years. The illustration in the upper half was drawn by Harrison Eastman, who came to California from Boston in 1849 and worked for several San Francisco lithographers before eventually starting his own firm. The engraving shows the interior of the store, the walls lined with shelves of books, with children and adults perusing the inventory. An ephemeral survival, illustrating the literary culture of San Francisco during the boom years of the Gold Rush. COWAN, BOOKSELLERS OF EARLY SAN FRANCISCO, p.75.
(Item ID: WRCAM39967) $600.00