San Francisco Chinese Directory [wrapper title]

San Francisco: Jimmy Lum Advertising Service, 1950. 108pp. Original pictorial wrappers, stapled, with a length of string tied through a small punch hole at top left. Moderate toning, edges, corners, and spine ends a bit scuffed. Internally clean. Good plus. A rare and highly informative Chinese American directory for San Francisco, Oakland, and the East Bay published in the summer of 1950 (the Index is dated July 1950). The work presents commercial advertisements organized alphabetically from "Appliance" to "Venetian Blind" dealers, interspersed with listings of Chinese businesses and residences organized by street. The ads range from short two or three line listings to elaborate, illustrated quarter and half-page ads. Additionally, pages 24 and 25 are comprised of a map of Chinatown, and the main part of the directory is followed by separate sections for Oakland the East Bay section. The directory also includes occasional ads for itself, touting the work as "the most effective form of business and professional advertising medium to reach the largest numbers of Chinese in the City and Bay Area throughout the year." The directory also includes more than one ad for the publisher, Jimmy Lum's Advertising Service. OCLC reports copies of the 1950 edition at Stanford, the Bancroft, and Yale.