The following are reproductions published prior to 1923
- A History of the City of San Francisco and Incidentally of the State of California

- California: A Study of American Character: From the Conquest in 1846 to the Second Vigilance Committee in San Francisco (California Legacy Book)
- Catalogue of the Library of the California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco, Cal. September 1, 1892

- A Memoir on the Water Supply of the City of San Francisco
, William Jarvis McAlpine
- City Of Plagues: Disease, Poverty, And Deviance In San Francisco
, Susan Craddock
- Annals Of The Spanish Northwest: California V1, Part 1 (1884)

- British Merchant Seamen in San Francisco, 1892-1898
James Fell. An historical reproduction of a book published pre-1923 about sailors, crimping, desertion, The Seamen's Institute . . .
- An Historical Review of the San Francisco Exchange
, R. S. Masters
- Bohemian San Francisco, Its Restaurants and Their Most Famous Recipes; The Elegant Art of Dining. Clarence Edgar Edwards
. This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work.
- A Region's Press: Anatomy of Newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area, published by the Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California
- A Treatise on the Law of Deeds: Their Form, Requisites, Execution, Acknowledgment, Registration, Construction and Effect: Covering the Alienation of ... Deeds and Sheriff's Deeds [ V.2 ] [ 1897 ]
Together With Chapters on Tax Deeds and Sheriffs Deeds Volume: 1 Publisher: San Francisco: Bancroft-Whitney co. Publication date: 1897 Subjects: Deeds Real property -- United States. Originally publised in 1897, this volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG format by Kirtas Technologies.
Reprints from San Francisco's own writers
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Favorites through the years |

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Beyond the Golden Gate:
A Maritime History of California
Timothy G. Lynch
Beyond the Golden Gate: A Maritime History of California is the first book-length treatment of California's connection to the sea. Here, noted maritime historian Timothy Lynch looks at the history of the Golden State through the prism of the maritime world: we see how the region developed and how indigenous persons interacted with the marine ecosystem. We see how they and others-Spanish, English, Russian, American-interpreted and constructed the oceans, lakes and river networks of the region.
The waterways served as highways, protective barriers, invasion routes, cultural inspiration, zones of recreation, sources of sustenance: much as they do today. We see how the Gold Rush transformed the region, wreaking havoc on the marine environment,and how the scale and scope of maritime operations waxed and waned in the decades after that event. In all, the delicate balance between protection and utilization is paramount. Written as part of a project with the National Park Service and the Organization of American Historians, Beyond the Golden Gate is an immersive look at the maritime history of California that will inspire additional scholarship in this overlooked but critically important field. Benefitting from hundreds of primary sources, dozens of captivating images and reflective of the latest trends in the field, Beyond the Golden Gate is sure to satisfy the curious reader, the serious historian, and the maritime aficionado. |
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The Annals of San Francisco
Authors M.D. Gihon, Frank Soule, James Nisbet
If you purchase only one book about San Francisco's early days, consider this: it was compiled at the time from newspapers, documents, quotes, etc. It is about as direct as you can get of stories of San Francisco's history told though the eyes of the people that were there. That is not to say it isn't "tainted," but it is closer to the source than almost anything else you can find. |
James P. Delgado
Described as a "forest of masts," San Francisco's Gold Rush waterfront was a floating economy of ships and wharves, where a dazzling array of global goods was traded and transported. Drawing on excavations in buried ships and collapsed buildings from this period, James P. Delgado re-creates San Francisco's unique maritime landscape, shedding new light on the city's remarkable rise from a small village to a boomtown of thousands in the three short years from 1848 to 1851. Gleaning history from artifacts--preserves and liquors in bottles, leather boots and jackets, hulls of ships, even crocks of butter lying alongside discarded guns--Gold Rush Port paints a fascinating picture of how ships and global connections created the port and the city of San Francisco. |
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The Barbary Coast:
An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld Herbert Asbury The author begins his narrative with the Gold Rush and writes about the influx of "gold-seekers, gamblers, thieves, harlots, politicians and other felonious parasites . . . " |
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Cannibal Eliot and the Lost Histories of San Francisco Hilton Obenzinger
A collection of stories from diaries, memoirs, interviews and other firsthand accounts of San Francisco history from 1776 to the earthquake and fire of 1906. Includes "The Demented Grin of Father Fernandez"; "Belle Cora and the Vigilantes"; a tale about "Charles Crocker, His Fence, and the Troubles of 1877".
Mercury House, San Francisco, 1993 |
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Gold, Silk, Pioneers & Mail: The Story of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company Robert J. Chandler, Ph.D. and Stephen J. Potash; Forward by James P. Delgado, Ph.D. The California Gold Rush of 1849 assured the fortunes of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co. Based in San Francisco, its wooden steamers carried gold, passengers, mail and high-value freight, forever changing the city, the Pacific Coast and the nation. Chandler is a graduate of the University of California. Stephen J. Potash is a graduate of Pomona College and a public relations consultant to the international trade and freight transportation sectors. (This beautifully illustrated book is a numbered limited edition.) |
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Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin With a new preface (California Studies in Critical Human Geography
Gray Brechin
"Every age has some ostentatious system to excuse the havoc it commits." Horace Walpole, 1762
Gold and silver drove San Francisco's real estate values. While some financiers may have worked as miners, they readily gave that up for the money to be made in the city they were building. |
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San Francisco Almanac Everything You Want to Know About Everyone's Favorite City
Gladys Hansen Gladys Hansen was the city archivist at the San Francisco Public Library for 47 years. Everything from Accolades, Arts and Entertainment, Bridges and Tunnels, Chinese, Churches, Cemeteries, Culture, Earthquakes, Flags, Lakes, Legends, Maritime, to Streets, Transportation, Vital Statistics, Water and Weather (Printed 1995) |
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Old Tales of San Francisco
2nd Edition Arthur Chandler The book gathers fine writing from and about the city from the last decades of the 18th through the first years of the 20th century. San Francisco's literary heritage is rich and much is out of print. This book contains a sampling of the abundant treasures tucked away in libraries and historical societies. The author divided it into 1775-1848; 1849-1869; 1870-1906. Each author's work is briefly prefaced to set the scene. |
 
San Francisco's Lost Landmarks James R. Smith This collection showcases the once-familiar sites that have faded into dim memories and hazy legends. Not just a list of places, facts, and dates, this pictorial history shows why San Francisco has been a legendary travel destination and one of the world s finest places to live and work for more than 150 years.
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San Francisco: Port of Gold William Martin Camp Camp was a waterfront reporter in San Francisco in 1938, when he worked for the San Francisco Examiner briefly, and again in the 40s when he returned to the city. Finely researched, with stories of waterfront places and characters not often told, and written in a journalistic style (which, to me, means very easy to read).Museum.
1947, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York.
1947
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Shanghaied in San Francisco
(Maritime History) Bill Pickelhaupt
Stories of waterfront characters, crimps, Whitehall boats, and the origins of the word "shanghaied."
Recently reprinted. |

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This Is San Francisco: A Classic Portrait of the City Robert O'Brien
O'Brien, a former San Francisco Chronicle reporter, wrote these stories of characters not often written about during the 40s.
Reprinted by Chronicle Books, 1994 |
  A Selection of Books by Mark Twain
including Autobiography, Life on the Mississippi, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, How to Tell a Story and Other Essays, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Mysterious Stranger, The Innocents Abroad . . .
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Mark Twain's San Francisco
(California Legacy) Edited by Bernard Taper
A selection of Mark Twain's stories between 1863 and 1866. Among Twain's counterparts during these literary years were Bret Harte, Ambrose Bierce, Henry George, the flamboyant Joaquin Miller, and Ina Coolbrith. They loosened the stricture of "proper" English by writing freely of the lusty life surrounding them in the raw West. Twain wrote his witty pieces for the "Call, Golden Era, Californian, Sacramento Union" and the "Daily Dramatic Chronicle," which was the original name of the "San Francisco Chronicle" when it was founded in 1865.
1963. 264 pages, illustrated. |
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Walking San Francisco on the Barbary Coast Trail Daniel Bacon
A colorful view and walking guide of the City for historians and tourists. Well-researched and written by a native San Franciscan. Bacon located the sites of many of the ships that were sunk after being abandoned along the waterfront when crew left for the gold fields. Quicksilver Press, 1997 |
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Historic Photos of San Francisco Rebecca Schall
From the 1906 earthquake to cable cars, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge, Historic Photos of San Francisco is a photographic history collected from the area's top archives. With around 200 photographs, many of which have never been published, this beautiful coffee table book highlights the historical growth from the mid 1800s to the late 1900s of the City by the Bay in stunning black and white photography. The book captures people, places, and events important to the history of this unique city, accompanied by historical analysis. Whether you live in The City or are visiting, you will value this work. |
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1887 Prospectus
for San Francisco's Wire Cable Railways and Cable Cars Pacific Cable Railway Company
In 1873, the first cable railway in the United States began operation in San Francisco. In subsequent years, the Clay Street Railroad was joined by many other operators throughout the U.S.A., including systems in New York and Los Angeles. The rise of the electric trolley made most cable car systems obsolete. Today, the only street cable car system in operation is the historic San Francisco Municipal Railway. Originally published in 1887, this prospectus was prepared by patent holders in hopes of attracting additional operators and investors. The document describes the cable car system and its operation in text, diagrams and photographs, and presents a detailed list of patents. This reprint is presented in a format that is slightly larger than the original. However, care has been taken to preserve the integrity of the text. |
More: Selection of Historic San Francisco
- Theatres in San Francisco
Historic San Francisco, Rand Richards
- San Francisco: A Cultural and Literary by Mick Sinclair
- Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture
(A City Lights Anthology)
- Reprints include: Recollections of the San Francisco Waterfront, History of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance, Unbound Voices: A Documentary History of Chinese Women in San Francisco, Pioneer Urbanites: A Social and Cultural History of Black San Francisco, Port O'Gold: A History Romance of The San Francisco Argonauts . . .
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Novels Set in San Francisco (Historical and Current), including:
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