Trow's New York City Directory, for the Year Ending May 1, 1870 [Bound with] The New York City Commercial Register, Containing the cards of the Principal Merchants, Manufacturers &c., . . . Forming a Business Directory [bound with also] Th New York City Register . .

New York: John F. Trow, 1869. Hardcover. Buckram cloth. Very Good. The 83rd Volume of the directory, and reflecting the rapid growth of the city, both in population and economic importance, the directory not only had more pages than a few years prior, but the Commercial Register and City Register, previously one section, are now two. 8vo. 23.5 by 15 cm. [2], 1216, [2], 184, [4], 57, [13] pp. With a ton of ads. There are ads on thin leaves interspersed in the main body of the directory, and these aren't counted in the pagination. These ad leaves usually are printed on both sides, but not always, and they are of various colors, clearly to set them apart from the directory proper. There 19 to 21 such leaves -- the number depends on whether included is one in the preliminaries and also one which is colored on one side, with the directory carried forward on the other side, and in this instance, counted in the pagination. Also the Commercial Register, which is 184 pages, is all ads, generally smaller ads, with more than half a dozen on the page quite frequently. This section is a direct ancestor of the yellow pages of the later telephone book. Finally, the last 13 unpaginated pages are ads, the final leaf being on the color paper. These ads tend to be larger, and surely were more expensive given the ease of finding them at the end. We emphasize the ads because they are probably have the most immediate appeal to a modern audience who isn't dipping into the directory to research a particular individual's or business' location in 1870. Of the innumerable ads, we would single out a few as having particular interest. One is for a company named Doty &McFarlan, which is printed on a blue enameled paper, one we believe to have also been made with arsenic. Another of the inserts is for a printer, John A. Gray & Green, which takes up both sides of a pink leaf. On one side is an engraved illustration of its fireproof main plant, located at the corner of a street that no longer exists, the other street, obscure, both in a sense swallowed up by the Brooklyn Bridge, whose ramp is positioned there. The flip side for this printer of over 50 magazinese and periodicals -- so it states -- showcases its chromolithography. The ad for another printer, Trow & Smith, which we think is probably affiliated with the publisher of this directory, also employs multi-color printing in its typography. In any case, the ads, many of which have illustrations, are a fascinating mix of businesses now obsolete, businesses that once prospered by succumbed to competition, and also survivors and/or names still well-known. The directory itself gives the addresses of virtually everyone -- certainly every property owner. The concept of de-listing had not arrived, we should think, when the telephone had yet to be invented. Thus you could find the listings for such notorious figures as Jay Gould -- both his office downtown and his Fifth Avenue home. The city register is a handy reference not just for the names of government officials, but also such things as lists of the many places of worship, by denomination, including the names of their clergy; the names of businesses broken down by type of business; the listing of the many ferries then operating; and one last thing worth mentioning is the street directory, which explicates the numbering, helpfully broken down by cross-streets. The publication is surprisingly scarce, with only two copies listed on OCLC First Search. Not included there, there, is not the Historical Society, which we know has a copy, and we assume the Public Library does as well. The buckram cloth has some fraying and rubbing. Spine extremities have the worst of it, with the cloth torn, the crimson color, the most washed out. The text block is solid. Some staining and edge chipping, mostly affecting the first few and last few leaves. (Inventory #: 20075)