Paul Elder and Company

For seventy years, Paul Elder's bookstores were a fixture in downtown San Francisco. There was not a single bookstore but a series of six, plus short-lived forays to New York City and Santa Barbara. The early shops were the most memorable, small momuments to the Arts & Crafts aesthetic. They were known as much for their ambience and array of art objects as for the books themselves.

In addition to his famous bookstores, Elder also published 400 books under his own name. His finest volumes were published 1903-1911, when he teamed with noted printer John Henry Nash.

Elder focused his publications on several popular topics, including Arts & Crafts decoration, children's books, travel literature, humor, Japanese art, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

239 Post Street store, circa 1921