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35.5 x 35.5 cm (14 x 14 in). Map of Novato Ranch. Owned by the Novato Ranch Co. This is a scarce c. 1910 promotional map and real-estate brochure for Novato Ranch, issued by the Novato Land Company at a pivotal moment in the suburban development of Marin County. Measuring 14 x 14 inches, the front presents a detailed subdivision plan, while the verso provides an extensive question-and-answer guide that markets the land to prospective settlers and small farmers. The map charts an ambitious early twentieth-century subdivision carved from the historic Novato Rancho. The plan depicts hundreds of numbered lots, organized along newly surveyed roads and anchored by irrigated areas, creeks, and pockets of cultivated land. A small inset at lower left outlines the component ranches: Home Ranch, A Ranch, B Ranch, C Ranch, etc. Reflecting the gradual dismantling of large Mexican-era holdings into smaller agricultural and residential parcels. At right appears an extended promotional text, excerpted from the Post-Globe, extolling the ranch’s virtues: fertile alluvial soil, gentle climate, good water, and proximity to the California Northwestern Railroad. The piece markets Novato as a place where “ten thousand acres of the most fertile land in California” await transformation into profitable orchards, poultry farms, vineyards, and dairy operations. This rhetoric typifies the boosterism of the post-1900 Bay Area, when ranchos north of San Francisco were rapidly subdivided for smallholders and commuter farmers. The Verso: “Questions and Answers About Novato Ranch Lands”. The verso is an extraordinarily detailed Q&A marketing sheet, one of the more complete surviving examples of early suburban agricultural promotion in Marin County. Nearly fifty questions provide practical guidance and persuasive copy. The rhetorical style is classic for its era, reassuring Easterners and Midwesterners that Novato’s mild climate, proximity to Petaluma’s poultry industry, and rail access to San Francisco make it an ideal site for both farming and suburban living. The repeated insistence that “Novato leads Marin County” and that “large tracts will be cut into small farms” reveals the underlying philosophy of progressive small-farm subdivision, part of a broader regional shift from cattle ranching to diversified agriculture. Developers like the Novato Land Company targeted a national audience of aspiring farmers and middle-class settlers, promising both rural independence and easy access to San Francisco’s metropolitan market. This map also captures Novato just before paved road networks, improved regional transit, and the eventual construction of Highway 101 transformed it into a fully integrated commuter town. As such, the brochure documents an intermediate stage in the evolution of the North Bay landscape. Ephemeral real estate promotional maps of Northern California from this era are rare survivals, especially when both the map and the printed text are intact. No institutional examples of this specific Novato Ranch brochure are recorded in OCLC, and it appears to be absent from standard bibliographies of Marin development materials.

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This 1990 promotional map of Alameda by T. Graphics features a clever distortion of perspective to fill the majority of the map with Alameda Island. The viewer looks west; beyond Alameda. San Francisco Bay is reduced in size and shape such that the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges are almost on top of each other. This cartographic trick allows for a detailed presentation of business and professional services. Maps promoting local commercial interests became popular in the 1980s and 1990s, but this is the rare map that also has caricatures of the business owners themselves. Check it out and enjoy! Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island. It is adjacent to and south of Oakland and east of San Francisco across the San Francisco Bay. Alameda occupies what was originally a peninsula connected to Oakland. Much of it was low-lying and marshy. The higher ground nearby and adjacent parts of what is now downtown Oakland were the site of one of the largest coastal oak forests in the world. Alameda is Spanish for’grove of poplar trees,’ or’tree-lined avenue. It was chosen as the name of the city in 1853 by popular vote.

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STUNNING ORIGINAL 1914 ANTIQUE PROMOTIONAL MAP OF ALAMEDA COUNTY CALIFORNIA. DATE-1914 NOT ON MAP. RHEA AND KELLEY DAVIS CO. SCARCE AND LARGE 1914 PROMOTIONAL MAP OF ALAMEDA COUNTY CALIFORNIA SHOWING TOWNSHIPS OF BERKELEY, ALAMEDA, PART OF SAN FRANCISCO, OAKLAND, SAN LORENZO, CENTERVILLE, HAYWARD, IRVINGTON AND SAN LEANDRO AS WELL AS OTHERS. PUBLISHED TO PROMOTE GROWTH IN ALAMEDA COUNTY AND FOCUSING ON RAILROADS AND HARBORS ALONG THE OAKLAND, ALAMEDA AND BERKELEY WATERFRONTS. ALSO SHOWN IS PART OF SAN FRANCISCO, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY AND SAN MATEO COUNTY. TEXT AT SIDE LISTING INFORMATION ABOUT ALAMEDA AND IT’S AGRICULTURAL OPPORTUNITIES, FACTORIES, SCHOOLS AND WATERFRONT. ON REVERSE ARE PICTURES OF VARIOUS PLACES IN ALAMEDA COUNTY AND DESCRIPTIONS OF FARMING IN THE VARIOUS AREAS IN ALAMEDA. SCARCE AND EARLY ALAMEDA PROMOTIONAL MAP. MEASURES 32 X 18.5 ENTIRE SHEET. ACTUAL MAP- 23.5 X 15 INCHES. POOR- FAIR CONDITION, TEARS AT SIDES ON TEXT HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY REPAIRED WITH LOSS, SMALL EDGE TEARS, HEAVY CREASEING WITH MINOR LOSS AT SOME CREASES.

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This charming map of the Vista del Mar neighborhood of San Francisco was published as part of the promotional material for a large real estate project known as Sutro Heights, after San Francisco mayor and silver magnate Adolph Sutro. Today, the plots delineated in this map lie in the area between Geary Boulevard and Fulton Street, west of the Richmond district. The map depicts a conceptual urban landscape consisting of plots organized in neighborhood blocks and regularly interspersed with a more or less orthogonal road network. In the left of the image, facing the water, we see the original Sutro Heights, the residence that Alfred Sutro built for himself on the northwest tip of the San Francisco promontory. Fronting his private estate was the famous Sutro Baths, a public bathing facility executed to the highest standards (discussed further below) and formally opened just a few years after this development map was published. To the east of Sutro Hill and Cliff House, an elaborate urban neighborhood was planned, directly connected to the facilities built by Sutro but also to the Government Reservation and Park to the north. We see city blocks set down along a network of streets, and many of these individual plots have also been delineated. Some of the blocks already have a planned purpose, such as the elongated plot furthest to the northwest, which was to serve as the location for a luxury hotel with views overlooking the Pacific Ocean. At the same time, he had become more and more involved in city politics, eventually serving as mayor of San Francisco between 1895 and 1897. There are three important characters in the history of San Francisco that stand out in relation to this map. One is, of course, the printer, Canadian-born Edward Bosqui, who built a vital lithography and printing company in town. The two others are Adolph Sutro and a dynamic and ambitious real estate agent by the name of Will E. Adolph Sutro, a Jewish engineer from Germany, had struck it big in the Comstock Lode and was by the early 1880s an exceedingly wealthy man. He was known and is often referred to in historical texts, as San Francisco’s Silver Baron. Sutro later became the first Jewish mayor in U. History, but when this project was conceived and developed, he was still just one of the city’s wealthy benefactors looking to expand his fortune through speculative investment. Sutro put a considerable part of his wealth into purchasing land, which he then intended to develop for commercial purposes. This was nevertheless a drawn-out process that soon left him with extensive land holdings but few funds to develop them properly. Around what is currently Sutro Heights Park – a promontory overlooking the Pacific – he built a range of significant buildings during the early 1890s. These included the splendid new Cliff House, as well as the enormous public baths, and an amusement park, all of which could be reached by passenger steam trains from the inner city. Like the Sutro Baths and the Cliff House, the train line is actually depicted on the map, despite still being in the making. Inland from here, land plots were developed in a modern-looking orthogonal street grid. In order to sell some of his extensive land holdings, Sutro employed real estate agent Will E. Fisher of the firm Tevis and Fisher in San Francisco. Fisher was a dominant figure in the real estate market during the 1890s, as evidenced by countless advertisements in local newspapers. For some of the larger development projects in which he was involved – like the project at Sutro Heights – Fisher commissioned large broadsheets by the Bosqui printing company. The map in question is precisely one such example. The Sutro Heights project was one of Fisher’s last great development projects, and both his success and ambition are reflected in the high quality of this presentation sheet. Within a few years, however, Fisher’s firm would close following allegations of embezzlement and amid rumors of drunkenness. After his wealthy wife divorced him, and with creditors at his heels, Fisher escaped to the Klondike, presumably in the hopes of etching out a new fortune prospecting for gold. Census and publication history. This map was produced in 1893 by the Bosqui Engraving and Printing Company on behalf of the Will E. Fisher Real Estate Company. All surviving examples would have been among the original distribution, as any additional stock would have perished in the 1893 fire that destroyed Bosqui’s stores. Consequently, the map is scarce, and not many copies have come to market in the last decades. 61060709 lists five examples in institutional collections at the libraries of Columbia, Stanford, Yale, U. Berkeley, and the California Historical Society.

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Original ca1920 Clover Heights San Francico Real Estate Promotional Brochure. This original ca1920 real estate promotional folding brochure is for Clover Heights in San Francisco. The condition of this original 8.5″ x 22″ (unfolded) brochure is very good. Get business information that counts! – Vendio Counters are active content free.

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SAN FRANCISCO And Its Environs. With Routes From San Francisco Through California. Author: [California Promotional Publication] Title: SAN FRANCISCO And Its Environs. With Routes From San Francisco Through California Publication: San Francisco: The California Promotion Committee, 1903 Edition: 1st Printing (Rocq 8728). Description: 1st Printing (Rocq 8728). 2 page map at center of booklet. Original publisher’s rust colored pebbled leatherette binding with gilt stamped lettering to front cover. General wear, spine a bit sunned. A handy pocket guide to the City by the Bay, providing the tourist, or recent San Franciscan, with vital city information such as transportion options [Ferries, Steamships, etc], places to stay, places to visit, the’burbs’ e. Berkeley & Alameda, resorts in the Bay Area, etc. Somewhat uncommon in our experience, first time we’ve offered a copy in our 30+ years of business. Established in 1989, Tavistock Books has been in its present Alameda location since 1997. We are a general antiquarian business, with material ranging from Aviation to Zoology, from the 16th C to the 21st. We have specialties in Dickens, History of Nursing, Children’s Serial Fiction & Western Americana. If the return is due to an error on our part, we will reimburse you the cost of your return. We are members of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA), and the International Online Booksellers Association (IOBA). We leave feedback for buyers once they have posted feedback for us. We work hard to keep buyers happy and to promptly resolve the rare problem that may arise. This listing was created by Bibliopolis. This item is in the category “Books & Magazines\Antiquarian & Collectible”. The seller is “tavbooks” and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped to North, South, or Latin America, all countries in Europe, China, Japan, Australia.

• Author: California Promotional Publication
• Publisher: The California Promotion Committee
• Year Printed: 1903
• Special Attributes: 1st Edition
• Subject: Americana
• Original/Facsimile: Original

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California, Her Resources and Possibilities, Fourteenth Annual Report of the California State Board of Trade for the Year 1903 [Cover title: California, The Land of Promise]. Published: San Francisco; California State Board of Trade, 1904. Condition: Near fine (please see full item description for details). Description: 55 pp, with chromolithograph frontispiece (of a poppy), folding map (Geographical, Topographical and Railroad Map of California, with birdseye view of San Francisco in 1903 on the verso), tables (one folding), and illustrations from photographs. An attractive promotional piece containing detailed statistics on demographics, agricultural production, natural resources, imdustry, and other aspects of commercial development. See our other Californiana. Condition Descriptions Defined: We grade our books and dust jackets using the traditional language of the antiquarian book trade. In brief: Fine is the highest grade and means essentially as new, without visible faults or defects; Near Fine means approaching fine, but with one or more very minor defects or faults, which will be noted; Very Good means the book shows some general (but not too offensive) signs of wear and use, which will be noted; Good means the book is complete and intact, but has more wear or some internal markings. Any ex-library book will be graded no higher than Good, even if it is otherwise a very nice copy. Again, all flaws will be noted. We rarely offer any books in Fair or Poor condition, but if we do, the reasons for the grade will be evident from the photo(s) and description. Please notify us in advance of any return. About us: Walkabout Books is a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) and the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA). This item is in the category “Books & Magazines\Antiquarian & Collectible”. The seller is “walkaboutbooks” and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped to United States.

• Author: Chipman, N.P.
• Subject: Americana
• Topic: Californiana
• Binding: Softcover
• Publisher: California State Board of Trade
• Publication Year: 1904
• Publication Location: San Francisco

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