This copy is copyright protected.
Copyright © 2025 Geographicus Rare Antique Maps
Digital Image: 1887 Bancroft Pocket Map of San Francisco, California
SanFrancisco-bancroft-1887_d
Title
Bancroft's Official Guide Map of City and County of San Francisco, Compiled from Official Maps in Surveyor's Office.
1887 (dated) 25.5 x 30.5 in (64.77 x 77.47 cm) 1 : 30000
1887 (dated) 25.5 x 30.5 in (64.77 x 77.47 cm) 1 : 30000
Description
FOR THE ORIGINAL ANTIQUE MAP, WITH HISTORICAL ANALYSIS, CLICK HERE.
Digital Map Information
Geographicus maintains an archive of high-resolution rare map scans. We scan our maps at 300 DPI or higher, with newer images being 600 DPI, (either TIFF or JPEG, depending on when the scan was done) which is most cases in suitable for enlargement and printing.
Delivery
Once you purchase our digital scan service, you will receive a download link via email - usually within seconds. Digital orders are delivered as ZIP files, an industry standard file compression protocol that any computer should be able to unpack. Some of our files are very large, and can take some time to download. Most files are saved into your computer's 'Downloads' folder. All delivery is electronic. No physical product is shipped.
Credit and Scope of Use
You can use your digial image any way you want! Our digital images are unrestricted by copyright and can be used, modified, and published freely. The textual description that accompanies the original antique map is not included in the sale of digital images and remains protected by copyright. That said, we put significant care and effort into scanning and editing these maps, and we’d appreciate a credit when possible. Should you wish to credit us, please use the following credit line:
Courtesy of Geographicus Rare Antique Maps (http://www.geographicus.com).
How Large Can I Print?
In general, at 300 DPI, you should at least be able to double the size of the actual image, more so with our 600 DPI images. So, if the original was 10 x 12 inches, you can print at 20 x 24 inches, without quality loss. If your display requirements can accommodate some loss in image quality, you can make it even larger. That being said, no quality of scan will allow you to blow up at 10 x 12 inch map to wall size without significant quality loss. For more information, it is best consult a printer or reprographics specialist.
Refunds
If the high resolution image you ordered is unavailable, we will fully refund your purchase. Otherwise, digital images scans are a service, not a tangible product, and cannot be returned or refunded once the download link is used.
Cartographer
Bancroft Company (1852 – present) was a San Francisco, California, based publishing firm active in the second half of the 19th century. Bancroft is considered the first major publisher to develop in California. The firm was founded in 1852 when Herbert Howe Bancroft (1832 – 1918) relocated from Buffalo, New York, to San Francisco, California, with a stock of books to establish a regional office of his family's East Coast publishing house. The firm, initially situated in the Naglee Buildings and Montgomery and Merchant Streets, was immensely successful both as booksellers and publishers. H. H. Bancroft resigned from the company in 1868 to pursue historical study and passed on management to his brother, Albert Little Bancroft (1841 – 1914). A. L. Bancroft ran the firm from 1869 and 1871. It was Albert who published the firm's first maps, including general maps of California, pocket maps of San Francisco, and other southwest focused material. Albert led the firm during its most expansive period, was a pillar of the San Francisco community, and a founding member of the Bohemian Club. The firm was exceptionally clever in leveraging California's gold wealth to maximize its profitability. According to A. L. Bancroft,
A purchase of an item costing $1.00 in currency in New York could be sold for $2.00 in gold in San Francisco. With the $2.00 in gold the company bought New York exchange currency at 250% and received $5.00 for what had originally cost $1.00. (Clark, H., A Venture in History, p. 9)Meanwhile his brother, H. H. Bancroft dedicated himself to history and writing. He established the 'History Factory,' a commercially organized production house for historical research. Bancroft planned to write an expansive 39 volume history of the western part of North America. Only parts of Bancroft's were published due to an 1886 fire at Bancroft and Company where in several unpublished volumes were destroyed. Throughout his long career Bancroft compiled a vast library of some 60,000 volumes, most related to the western United States in one way or another. This vast collection was eventually transferred to the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1895 The educational stock of the Bancroft company was sold to Whitaker and Ray. In time the publishing arm of the Bancroft Company relocated to New York City where it took on new partners and focused on legal publications under the imprint Bancroft-Whitney Company. In 1989 it was absorbed into the International Thomson Organization. More by this mapmaker...