Catalog Archive
Auction 185, Lot 263

"[Map in Book] San Francisco Burned District [in] Glimpses of the San Francisco Disaster Graphically Depicting the Great California Earthquake and Fire..."

Subject: San Francisco, California

Period: 1906 (published)

Publication:

Color: Printed Color

Size:
13.2 x 10.1 inches
33.5 x 25.7 cm
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This fascinating and dramatic map was produced by William H. Lee. It vividly depicts large red flames consuming a huge swath of San Francisco - a devastating fire that burned for three days and consuming buildings in more than 500 blocks in today's financial district. An inset at bottom left underscores the magnitude of the fire, comparing it to the smaller fires in Baltimore and Chicago. Despite the alarming map and inset, the "Plain Facts" intended to reassure the audience: "The public must not conclude, from the graphic descriptions and many scenes of the burned district, that the beautiful Golden Gate city has been entirely destroyed…The new San Francisco will be grander and more beautiful.”

The map is still bound to the front of Glimpses of the San Francisco Disaster published by Laird & Lee in Chicago with 116 photographic illustrations of the "Startling, Realistic Views of the Terrible Catastrophe." Oblong octavo. Hardbound in blue cloth with gilt title on the front cover.

References:

Condition: A

Contents are clean, bright and near fine. Covers have light wear and minor soiling.

Estimate: $250 - $325

Sold for: $375

Closed on 11/17/2021

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