Monthly Programs

A presentation by David Mostardi

For 70 years—from 1898 until 1968—Paul Elder was the leading bookseller in San Francisco. And for the first twenty of those years, he was also the major publisher in the city, issuing over 400 titles. His books were praised as works of art and are still collected today as art objects. In addition, Elder created a new kind of bookstore with a well-earned reputation for carefully crafted artistic ambience, where his “books beautiful” were displayed on equal footing with pottery, metalwork, paintings, prints, and jewelry. The store was profitable when many other bookstores were failing, and his novel approach gained both national attention and imitators. This talk presents a biography of Paul Elder, a survey of his bookstores, and some of his significant publications. David Mostardi  bought his first Paul Elder book in 1997, and has been researching him ever since. His Paul Elder website, paulelder.org, debuted in 2003. He published his Checklist of the Publications of Paul Elder in 1999, and curated exhibitions on Paul Elder at the San Francisco Public Library in 2004 and the Book Club of California in 2023. His forthcoming book, A Western Publisher: Paul Elder & Company 1898-1968, will be published by the Book Club of California this spring. David also leads field trips for the Golden Gate Bird Alliance and plays accordion for Scottish Country Dancing. David and his wife Arlene Baxter live in Berkeley, in a home designed by Julia Morgan.