Bridging Minds: San Francisco Reads, 1933-1937

Gelber, Lilienthal sold new books as well as rare and fine press editions. 

This illustration is from their stationery of the 1930s.  

Image courtesy of Book Arts & Special Collections, SFP

To mark the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge on May 27th, we have pulled together an exhibit reflecting the reading habits of San Franciscans of that era.

On display are first editions, photographs and ephemera from the San Francisco History Center and other library collections that feature bestsellers, books about or set in California and California authors of the 1930s. Highlighted, too, are the fine press printers, booksellers and public libraries that made books available to the book loving public.

Bestsellers are selected from national lists as well as from San Francisco booksellers’ reports and the San Francisco Chronicle’s recommended lists. The exhibit includes a mix of fiction and nonfiction, breakouts and “bombs”: murder mysteries, historical fiction, autobiography and light romance intermingle with economics, race relations, and social justice.

San Francisco bookstores operating in the early to mid-1930s included Gelber & Lilienthal, Newbegin’s, and Paul Elder’s. Department stores that sold books included The White House, City of Paris and The Emporium. Other booksellers specialized in textbooks, law books, socialist publications and foreign language titles.

San Francisco fine press printers included Johnck & Seeger, the Grabhorn Press, John Henry Nash  and the Windsor Press. Their work was also available through Gelber & Lilienthal, Newbegin’s and Elder’s.

Below is a selected list of some of the books on display. Check our catalog to see if there are copies available for checkout.  

      

Allen, Hervey. Anthony Adverse

Armstrong, Arnold. Parched Earth

Armer, Laura Adams. Dark Circle of Branches
Asbury, Herbert. The Barbary Coast

Birney, Hoffman. Grim Journey; the Story of the Adventures of the Emigrating Company Known as the Donner Party

Briffault, Robert. Europa:the Days of Ignorance
Dana, Julian. The Man Who Built San Francisco
Davenport, Marcia. Of Lena Geyer      

Day, Clarence. Life With Father

Dobie, Charles Caldwell. San Francisco; a Pageant 

Dobie, Charles Caldwell. San Francisco Tales
Douglas, Lloyd. White Banners

Drury, Aubrey. California, an Intimate Guide

Genthe, Arnold. As I Remember 

Gregory, Jackson. A Case for Mr. Paul Savoy 
Jameson, Storm. In The Second Year
Jarrett, Cora Hardy. Strange Houses; a tale

Johnston, James A. Prison Life is Different

Jones, Idwal. China Boy 
Lampson, Robin. Laughter Out of the Ground

 Mason, Arthur. Come Easy, Go Easy 

Mitchell, Margaret. Gone With the Wind

Mitchell, Ruth Comfort. Old San Francisco ...

Nordhoff, Charles. The Hurricane

Norris, Kathleen. The American Flaggs

Norton, Roy. The Canyon of Gold

O’Dell, Scott. Woman of Spain

Radin, Paul. The Racial Myth

Rourke, Constance. Audubon

Saroyan, William. The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze and Other Stories

Sinclair, Upton. Depression Island

Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men

Steinbeck, John. To A God Unknown

Steinbeck, John. Tortilla Flat

Wells, H. G. Experiment in Autobiography; Discoveries and Conclusions of a Very Ordinary Brain

The books will be on display on the 6th floor outside the San Francisco History Center through July 14th.

The Leaflet: Number 5, April, 1934. Image courtesy of Book Arts & Special Collections, SFPL.