Karmiole Endowed Lecture: Paul Elder: A Literary Life in Seven Bookstores and Exhibition Opening

After resigning from his sales position at William Doxey’s bookstore in San Francisco’s famous Palace Hotel in 1897, a young Paul Elder opened his own shop two blocks away. Elder’s goal was a bookstore with a carefully crafted ambience, reflecting his embrace of the California Arts & Crafts Movement. Elder’s own publications were often designed with the same Arts & Crafts aesthetic. This talk will present a tour of Elder’s San Francisco bookstores, as he persevered through the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, helped to revitalize downtown, and celebrated the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

Exhibition opening with an in-person and virtual presentation by David Mostardi, book collector, curator, and historian