BOOKS AND CARDS WORTH GIVING: PAUL ELDER BOOKMARKS
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“O for a booke and a shadie nooke, eyther in a doore or out;
With the greene leves whis’pring over hede, or the street cryes all about, Where I maie Reade all at my ease both in the Newe and Olde; For a jollie goode Booke where on to looke is better to me than Golde.” --Old English Song This verse, which seemed to be popular around the turn of the 19th century, is fitting for the publisher and bookseller whose bookstores created a unique experience for lovers of books and art in San Francisco for seventy years. The bookmark featuring this “olde” verse has a gothic style but also the feel of the Arts and Crafts era. Luckily, it clearly stated the publisher, Paul Elder and Company of San Francisco, the copyright date of 1905 and the designer’s name, F. M. Keane. The research led me to a wealth of information about this local legend, about which I knew nothing before finding this lovely bookmark.
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Bookstores and Publishing Ventures
David Mostardi maintains a wonderful web site devoted to documenting Paul Elder’s publishing and bookselling history including a detailed biography of him. An attraction to books and publishing seemed to run in his family as his grandmother was an author and his son, Paul Elder, Jr. eventually took over the business. Elder, Sr.’s first venture in 1897 was in partnership with artist and illustrator Morgan Shepard and was called “The Book and Art Shop” at 238 Post Street in San Francisco. They published about forty books under the imprint of D. P. Elder and Morgan Shepard, many illustrated in the Art Nouveau style by Shepard.
In Literary World, v31-32, 1900, p. 207, there is an ad for their “Impression Leaflets” with a wonderful description of the store and the values of its owners:
“Note—Messrs. Elder and Shepard are not only dealers in books, new, old, and rare, but they have collected, with taste and judgment, Objects of Art, of every kind, embracing the best handicraft and art of all peoples—save American Indian and Moorish. Their store is said to be one of the most interesting in the country, and has become one of the show places of San Francisco. Visitors are heartily welcome, and will be left alone to look about. Orders filled for anything good in art or literature.”
After Shepard left in 1903, Elder took over all aspects of his books, adding printing to publishing and bookselling, after forming a partnership with Twentieth Century Press. Renamed to The Tomoyé Press, the printers Bruce Brough and John Henry Nash moved upstairs from the bookshop and began a collaboration that lasted until 1911. Elder began to shift the artistic motifs from the Art Nouveau style favored by Shepard to his own preference for Arts & Crafts. Mostardi observes, “As Shepard’s whimsical and European-influenced art matched his demeanor, so too did the calm harmony of the Arts & Crafts movement suit Elder’s reserved personality.” Since my bookmark was published in 1905, it reflects the movement toward the Arts & Crafts aesthetic that came to reflect Elder’s approach.
In 1904 Elder expanded with a store at 22 Chapala St. in Santa Barbara, across from the Potter Hotel which later moved to the corner of State St. & Anapamu. The store remained until 1927 although Elder sold it to his manager, Sarah Redfield in 1909.
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A year after the publication of my bookmark, tragedy struck in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire that destroyed the bookshop and the press. Undaunted, Elder was one of the first to build along Van Ness, the temporary shopping district for the ruined city. This shop at Bush St. was much smaller than the Post St. bookshop with one large room for books and a smaller one for art objects; however, Elder employed famed architect Bernard Maybeck to design it with what Mostardi calls the Maybeck motifs featuring “simple and rustic lines, heavy exposed beams, medieval-style light fixtures and matching furniture.” A photograph of the exterior is available from the California Historical Society; a small photograph of the interior is found on p. 36 of San Francisco as it was, as it is, and how to see it, by Helen Throop Purdy, published in 1912 by P. Elder.
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Elder moved the Tomoyé Press to New York to be closer to the heart of the publishing world, but that venture lasted only until 1909 when he was able to re-open a larger store in San Francisco, this time called the “Arts and Crafts Bookshop” at 239 Grant Street. Notably, the interiors again were designed by Maybeck which brought much attention to the shop in this location as well as two other locations on Post Street in 1921 and Sutter and Stockton Streets in 1948. According to the entry for Elder in the Dictionary of American Antiquarian Bookdealers by Donald C. Dickinson, 1998, p. 61, the 1909 store at 239 Grant Street had “separate rooms containing art books, fine printing, illuminated manuscripts and handsome bindings, all set off with Japanese screens, fine China and beaded lamps.”
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Helen Throop Purdy provides an even more tantalizing description of the Grant street shop, between Post and Sutter, in San Francisco as it was, as it is, and how to see it, p. 133-134 , with a small photo of the bookroom on p. 136:
“The artistically arranged window is sure to attract you. From the size of the front, you would never guess the number of beautiful things within. With his publishing rooms, the shop occupies four floors. Books—standard, new and old—are on the first floor. His own unique publications, rare editions and latest things from the East and abroad cover the tables and shelves. There are no counters. The soft gray of the Gothic room is a fitting background for the rich bindings, jars of flowers and pictures. Children’s books are up a short flight of stairs in front. On the upper floors are rooms of art treasures, metal work, potteries, pictures and many other delightful things. When Lyman Abbott was here seven or eight years ago, he said, in speaking of the former store, that neither in Europe nor New York had he seen a shop of like attractiveness.” An ad for the store at 238 Post St. published in The Literary world, v. 35, Nov. 1904, p. 313 is headlined “A Gracious Tribute from a Kindly Visitor” and quotes Dr. Lyman Abbott in a similar expression of praise. |
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In the trade journal, American Stationer and Office Manager, v. 88, May 28, 1921, p. 12, there is a description of the new store at 239 Post St. noting that Maybeck was the inspiration for the interior and big stairway connecting the floors : “The architectural motif is Tudor Gothic , with pointed and, in some cases, interlaced arches, suggestive of a cathedral. A remarkable feature of the building is that, whereas most San Francisco stores have mezzanine floors, necessitating low entrances, the new Paul Elder building has a wide Gothic arch, at the entrance, which springs to the second floor, and is covered with tiles.” …Social stationery, etc. occupy the main floor. There is an extensive art department, which includes greeting cards, as well as pictures.” The store also featured a circulating library, children’s library and lecture hall, in what must have been the glory days of bookstores.
The publishing side of his enterprise proved difficult, however, and Elder ceased most of this activity in 1917 although he continued to sell books, passing the business on to his son in the 1940s. Paul Elder, Jr. continued to manage the shop for the next twenty years.
By chance, I found I have another Elder bookmark although this one is much less spectacular. It dates from the period after the store moved to Sutter and Stockton under the junior Elder’s management, and lists the Mills Building branch which opened in 1949. This functional bookmark doubles as a mail order form with a postcard that can be torn off and mailed in. I have two copies of the bookmark and a third, which differs in having a square page flap cut around the figures, and phone numbers for two versus five locations or perhaps just exchanges. The ornate yet tasteful Arts and Crafts style has been replaced with a cartoonish illustration and a modern forward slanting font on a cheap yellow card.
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Kevin Starr neatly summarizes Elder’s trajectory in Golden Dreams: California in an age of abundance, 1950-1963, p. 291:
“After many moves, Paul Elder & Company settled finally in 1948 at the corner of Stockton and Sutter, taking with it at all times its luxuriant Craftsman-Gothic bookcases and interiors designed by Bernard Maybeck. The bookstore had long since become an institution—a distinguished fine press publishing house as well as a purveyor of paintings, statuary, and Asian objects d’art—presided over by UC Berkeley-educated Paul Elder, Jr., an accomplished cellist in the Bohemian Club orchestra who had learned the book trade, new, used and antiquarian, during a New York apprenticeship in the 1920s.”
“After many moves, Paul Elder & Company settled finally in 1948 at the corner of Stockton and Sutter, taking with it at all times its luxuriant Craftsman-Gothic bookcases and interiors designed by Bernard Maybeck. The bookstore had long since become an institution—a distinguished fine press publishing house as well as a purveyor of paintings, statuary, and Asian objects d’art—presided over by UC Berkeley-educated Paul Elder, Jr., an accomplished cellist in the Bohemian Club orchestra who had learned the book trade, new, used and antiquarian, during a New York apprenticeship in the 1920s.”
Bookmarks Series
This brief biography doesn’t do justice to Paul Elder’s contributions to publishing and literary culture in San Francisco, but his life has been well documented. What is less obvious is the role of bookmarks in his publishing ventures. It is rare to find any documentation for bookmark publishing so I was thrilled to find a number of details about my bookmark and others from the same period.
Elder’s interest in ephemeral publications such as bookmarks may explain why it is easier to locate information about them. According to the timeline on Elder found in Arts and Crafts Movement in California living the good life, Oakland Museum, 1993 by Kenneth R. Trapp, p. 272, “Elder and Shepard begin designing ephemera for sale, including cards, bookmarks, broadsides, and stationery” as early as 1899. As the descriptions of the book shops confirm, he devoted space to this type of material, at least in the larger shops.
A partial inventory can be documented. The Catalog of Copyright entries: Books, dramatic compositions, maps and charts, v. 1, issue 2 , 1906, has titles copyrighted by Paul Elder & Co. for the Book Marker Series, described as 3 x 8 ½”. There should be at least one more in this series, but it hasn’t been located yet.
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Several cookbook book-markers by May Southworth are listed in the Catalog of copyright entries, Part 1, 1907, p. 276, including two of which copies have been found: “Fruit cocktail cook-book book-marker” and my favorite, “Marshmallow cream layer cake cook-book book-marker”*. Others include “Oyster salad cook-book book-marker”, “Planked fish cook-book book-marker”, and “Welsh rarebit supreme cook-book book-marker”.
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David Mostardi explains that Southworth wrote a series of cookbooks for Elder, each one containing 101 recipes, with the series name “101 Epicurean Thrills”. They began in 1902 and were reprinted into the 1910s; many have been digitized and can be viewed. My favorite is One Hundred & One Ways of Serving Oysters. With their slim design, they almost look like bookmarks.
There is also a “Culinary Bookmark” advertised in Good Housekeeping, v. 44 1907, p 586: “A Culinary Bookmark with decorations in gold and red is a novelty devised by Paul Elder & Co. of New York and San Francisco. It bears a recipe for patatas con queso, or potatoes baked in cheese sauce. It is sent on receipt of ten cents”.
A note in Publishers Weekly, 29 June 1907, no. 1848, p. 1918-1919 clarifies that there were six bookmarks, including the “culinary bookmark”, selected by May Southworth to accompany the cookbooks.
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The earliest listing I could find for my Jollie Goode Booke bookmark was in Presents in print, with some in color and gold, from the presses of Paul Elder & Company ([c1909]), p. 34 along with five others, four of which were designed by Robert W. Hyde. There are illustrations of bookmarks on the opposite page, although it is hard to tell if they are the same as those listed.
The real bonanza is the book titled Pleasant Pages, Books and Cards Worth Giving, Suggestions for the Christmas & New Year Holidays by Arthur Guiterman, edited with additions by Paul Elder, published 1910 in San Francisco. On p. 53 is the following listing that is the same as in the above work except for the charming introduction:
BOOK-MARKERS. Dear friends, our services engage; We will not let you skip one page. Imperial Japan deckle-edge folders, richly illustrated in colors. Size, 3 x 8 1/2. 20 cents net.
- "For a Jollie Goode Booke." Designed by F. M. Keane in red and gold.
- “My Book, if thou art borrowed by a friend." Designed by Robert Wilson Hyde.
- “Old Books to Read." Designed in photogravure by Gordon Ross.
- " Go Little Book." Stevenson's delightful dedication. Designed by R. W. Hyde. *
- "A Little Health, a Little Wealth." Designed by R. W. Hyde.
I found several other entries for bookmarks in sections devoted to various events:
- Birthday greeting book-mark, p.49: “10. Book-Marker Birthday Greeting. To be slipped into the birthday gift book. Stamped deeply in gold on blue hand-made folder, size 2 ¼ x 9 1/2 . 5 cents net.”
- Easter book-mark greeting p. 52: “17. Easter Book-Mark Greeting. For the Easter gift book. Butterflies in gold and green on a tinted folder. Size, 2 1/4 x 6. 5 cents net.”
- Greetings and Decorations, p. 60 “25. Book-Marker. ‘My Valentine.’ Printed in gold on rose-colored slip. Folded, 2 ½ x 6 5/8. 5 cents net.”
A pamphlet titled Holiday catalog of a San Francisco Publisher by Paul Elder and presumably published in 1914, has on p. 7 of the Supplement a list identical to the one on p. 53 above.
David Mostardi provided pages from Elder’s Impressions catalogs from 1911-12 (p. 53) which lists six titles, and 1912-13 (p. 57) which omits “Lines to a Book Borrower”, making the list the same as the one above. This catalog also has small illustrations of four of the bookmarks; the missing one is “Old Books to Read”, designed in photogravure by Gordon Ross.
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The sheer variety of greetings, mottoes, and other ephemeral publications was surprising for a publisher of “real” books to undertake. It is also surprising that more of these bookmarks and other pieces haven’t surfaced—I have never seen another bookmark like the one I found and yet many copies must have been made.
Bookmark Designers
The designer of my first bookmark proved to be rather elusive. F. M. Keane was probably Frank M. Keane, brother to Theodore John Keane, both of whom were living in a boarding house in San Francisco in 1900. According to an entry in AskArt.com, Frank was born in San Francisco on June 6, 1866 and studied art at the School of Design. There was an artist by the same name listed in the 1920 and 1930 Census in New York. Had he followed Elder there and stayed to pursue his art? He won second prize at the California State Fair in 1932, and by 1940 he had retired to Coral Gables, FL. I found a drawing by Frank M. Keane in Sunset, v. 15, 1905, p. 511, but it bears no relation to the distinctive design on my bookmark. Perhaps his association with Elder was short-lived and he was merely interpreting a style dictated by Elder. There was one other bit of evidence suggesting their association. In the timeline listed for Elder in Arts and Crafts Movement in California living the good life, p. 272, there is this entry for 1906:
- September — Elder goes east, leaving John Howell to oversee general West Coast operations and Theodore Keane to manage the art section. Paul Elder & Co. opens the Arts and Crafts Book Room at 43-45 East Nineteenth Street, New York
After managing the art section, Frank’s brother Theodore went on to become director of the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts and later was the dean of the Art Institute of Chicago.
For the designer of my second bookmark, Robert Wilson Hyde, there was a more obvious and long lasting connection. Again from The Arts and Crafts Movement in California, p. 191-193, Hyde is described as having a talent for “illuminating special books to order” with a style called “a revival of the quaint though laborious art of the medieval cloisters”. He moved to Santa Barbara in 1902 and began to design for Paul Elder, apparently having met him through his book shop there. Hyde designed books and cards that were “printed in elaborate colors” and sold in Elder’s shop.
More on Elder's Work: Libraries, Exhibits, Lectures
It is fitting that the University of California, Santa Barbara houses an extensive collection of Elder’s work described in the finding aid for the “Paul Elder And Company Collection”: “The manuscript part of the collection contains two series: Catalogs and lists; and Photocopies of the title pages of Paul Elder imprints. The printed part of the collection contains nearly 200 titles”. The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, also has substantial holdings relating to Paul Elder, including the David Paul Elder Papers, 1909-1947 which contains “Materials relating to his career as publisher and bookseller in San Francisco. v.1: guestbook, 1909-1947, containing autographs of authors and other prominent individuals; v.2: clippings concerning the bookstore, 1914-1921, particularly the opening of the new store in 1921. “
I regret that I didn’t discover Paul Elder prior to a series of events sponsored by the San Francisco Public Library in 2004 titled The Best in Books and Art: Paul Elder & Company, 1898-1968. The exhibit surveyed:
“the career and publications of Paul Elder (1872-1948), for fifty years the proprietor of perhaps the best-known bookstore in San Francisco. Over a twenty-year span beginning in 1898 he also published almost 400 books, many of which are still held as standards of quality in typography and artistry. Elder embraced the emerging American Arts & Crafts movement, and included almost all forms of Arts & Crafts artistic expression in a series of memorable bookstores. Many San Franciscans will remember the last store, run by Elder's son Paul Jr. until the company closed its doors in 1968. On display will be many of Elder's most significant publications, rarely-seen photographs of his shops and memorabilia.”
“the career and publications of Paul Elder (1872-1948), for fifty years the proprietor of perhaps the best-known bookstore in San Francisco. Over a twenty-year span beginning in 1898 he also published almost 400 books, many of which are still held as standards of quality in typography and artistry. Elder embraced the emerging American Arts & Crafts movement, and included almost all forms of Arts & Crafts artistic expression in a series of memorable bookstores. Many San Franciscans will remember the last store, run by Elder's son Paul Jr. until the company closed its doors in 1968. On display will be many of Elder's most significant publications, rarely-seen photographs of his shops and memorabilia.”
David Mostardi organized the exhibit and also gave a slide lecture featuring a tour of the bookstores, none of which remain according to his web site. Surely some of the fixtures or other representations of so famous a location must have survived somewhere, but the actual buildings succumbed to time and progress. In a little personal note, the library program manager for the event was someone I knew from my first job as a librarian, and he had his own private press along with a great interest in book arts and fine printing.
As his web site notes, Mostardi reprised his lecture on November 6, 2023 for the Kenneth Karmiole Endowed Lecture on the History of the Book Trade in California and the West, sponsored by the Book Club of California which can be viewed online. He also installed an exhibit at the Book Club’s headquarters in San Francisco through February 12, 2024.
As this brief history demonstrates, Paul Elder certainly produced books, cards—and bookmarks—worth giving. Maybe more of the bookmarks will be found, hiding and preserved in his beautifully published books.
Bookmark specifications: For a jollie goode Booke…
Dimensions: 2 1 / 2 x 7 1 / 4”
Material: paper
Manufacturer: Paul Elder and Company, San Francisco
Date: 1905
Acquired: Etsy
Bookmark specifications: Paul Elder’s Sutter Stockton
Dimensions: 3 1 / 4 x 8 1 / 2”
Material: paper
Manufacturer: Paul Elder’s Books, San Francisco
Date: 194?
Acquired: Bookmark Bookstore, Oakland, CA, found in donated books
Bookmark specifications: Go Little Book and wish to All…
Dimensions: 2 3 / 4 x 8 1 / 2”
Material: paper
Manufacturer: Paul Elder and Company, San Francisco
Date: 1906
*Acquired: eBay (Aug 2011) – after the original column was published
Bookmark specifications: Marshmallow Cream Layer Cake
Dimensions: 3 x 8 1 / 2”
Material: paper
Manufacturer: Paul Elder and Company, San Francisco and New York; Selected by Mary Southworth; Decorated by Spencer Wright
Date: 1907
*Acquired: eBay (July 2012) – after the original column was published
Bookmark specifications: Fruit Cocktail
Dimensions: 3 x 8 1 / 2”
Material: paper
Manufacturer: Paul Elder and Company, San Francisco and New York; Selected by Mary Southworth; Decorated by Spencer Wright
Date: 1907
*Acquired: image provided by David Mostardi, February 2024
Dimensions: 2 1 / 2 x 7 1 / 4”
Material: paper
Manufacturer: Paul Elder and Company, San Francisco
Date: 1905
Acquired: Etsy
Bookmark specifications: Paul Elder’s Sutter Stockton
Dimensions: 3 1 / 4 x 8 1 / 2”
Material: paper
Manufacturer: Paul Elder’s Books, San Francisco
Date: 194?
Acquired: Bookmark Bookstore, Oakland, CA, found in donated books
Bookmark specifications: Go Little Book and wish to All…
Dimensions: 2 3 / 4 x 8 1 / 2”
Material: paper
Manufacturer: Paul Elder and Company, San Francisco
Date: 1906
*Acquired: eBay (Aug 2011) – after the original column was published
Bookmark specifications: Marshmallow Cream Layer Cake
Dimensions: 3 x 8 1 / 2”
Material: paper
Manufacturer: Paul Elder and Company, San Francisco and New York; Selected by Mary Southworth; Decorated by Spencer Wright
Date: 1907
*Acquired: eBay (July 2012) – after the original column was published
Bookmark specifications: Fruit Cocktail
Dimensions: 3 x 8 1 / 2”
Material: paper
Manufacturer: Paul Elder and Company, San Francisco and New York; Selected by Mary Southworth; Decorated by Spencer Wright
Date: 1907
*Acquired: image provided by David Mostardi, February 2024
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