San Francisco Classified business Telephone Directory: circa 1915 de Pacific Bell Telephone and Telegraphy Company

San Francisco California: Pacific Bell Telephone and Telegraphy Company About 12 x 9.5 inches, printed on rather poor quality pink paper. Note: this is a business, not a personal, directory. Perhaps a very early version of today's "yellow pages." Not dated, but images of dress and hair styles, telephone switchboard, and instruments such as typewriters indicate 1915 or slightly earlier. In addition, all vans and wagons are depicted with teams of draft horses,except for Bekins which shows elephants in harness. (A display ad in half-tone shows a Bekins Van & Storage unit pulled by actual elephants. I can't find any evidence that they actually used elephants, but I suspect that this question will now linger in my mind until I am forced to resolve it. If anyone knows one way or the other for sure, please let me know.) Bekins states in their company history that all horse-drawn vans had been eliminated by the end of World War I, so they would certainly gain bragging rights by picturing motor-driven vans if they had them.at the time this directory was issued. Thereis likely a plain paper front cover missing since there is a detached rear plain paper wrap. The book consists of 85 pages in three columns, There are a number of B&W illustrated ads for varioius companies. The old threads that held this together have long since departed, although pages appear to be intact. The top page is pretty rough around the edges with a number of corner and edge chips, but no text missing. The entire piece is fragile and should be subjected to archival repair and storage. What a fascinating piece of San Francisco history, and a great reference tool! NOTE: The scan does not show the entire page, the item is wider than the scanbed. Age discoloration is actually less pronounced than shows in the scan. Darn scanners. DIRECTORIES 3908. Regular Edition. Paperbound. Good Condition. About 12 x 9,5 Inchs. Directory.