Byways Around San Francisco Bay

New York and Cincinnati: The Abingdon Press, 1915. 8vo. 200 x 140 mm., [8 ½ x 5 ¼ inches[.  184 pp.  Illustrated throughout with a photographic frontispiece and 29 photographic plates in halftone and head-and-tail pieces designs, all by the author.  Unsigned binding of blue cloth, with a gilt, black, and white design of a sailing ship following the sun and entering a harbor, author and title in gilt on upper board, spine with author and title in gilt.  Ownership label of Paul Elder on rear pastedown; slight abrasion to paper near label.  Very good copy.
First edition of this highly decorative and informative travel companion to the Bay Area.  With chapters on the Golden Gate, Wild Cat Canyon, Muir Woods, Chinatown, and the author’s reminiscences of the beauties of San Francisco and its environment.  Hutchnson prepared his book with the many visitors who would be coming to San Francisco for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition that would take place in 1919.
The binding design, photos and drawings evoke the development in book design that was prominent in American publishing after the turn of the century.  This copy is particularly good copy of the Abingdon Press publication.  Although the binding is unsigned it is probably a design by the author. (Inventory #: 1344)