C.H. McISAAC & CO'S SEATTLE CITY AND KING COUNTY DIRECTORY 1885-86...VOLUME I [all published]

Portland: C.H. McIsaac & Co., 1885.. 3-234pp. plus four colored advertisement leaves interspersed throughout. Lacking pp.1- 2 (front board and pastedown) and 235 (rear pastedown) due to rebinding. Occasional pencil notations throughout (see below). Modern half burgundy buckram and tan cloth boards, spine gilt. Occasional faint tanning, otherwise near fine. Without the advertising text on the original front board and pastedowns. A rare and early Seattle residential and commercial directory produced just a few years before Washington statehood. The contents of the directory can be summed up by the subtitle, which reads: "An alphabetically arranged list of business firms, farmers and private citizens - a classified list of all trades, professions, and pursuits - a miscellaneous directory, city and county officers, terms of court, public and private schools, churches, banks, incorporated institutions, secret and benevolent societies, etc., etc." In this particular copy, a former owner has noted in pencil several Chinese business owners, including: "Sing Lee, laundry, n s Washington bet 5th and 6th" (p.147), "Tai Wing, cigars, s s Mill bet 2d and 3d" (p.154), "Wa Chong, general store n e cor 3d and Washington" (p.160), and "Yik Shing Tong, physician, w s 2d bet Washington and Main" (p.168), along with several others.

In addition to the directory listings, there are advertisements peppered throughout, including a fourteen-page section before the titlepage, occasional ads in the text, a handful of pages at the conclusion, and four additional advertisement leaves. The businesses are the expected mix of Pacific Northwest products and services: photographers, hotels, liquor and wine dealers, grocers, newspapers (namely DIE TRIBUENE, "the oldest German paper in Washington Territory"), shipbuilders, furriers, stone cutters, breweries, and railroads (with a full-page route map of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway near the rear). One of the full-page insert ads shows an engraved view of Yesler College in Seattle (a boarding school established by Seattle founder, Henry Yesler), while another touts scenic Tacoma, billed as the "Western Terminus" for the North Pacific Railroad; the ad is accompanied by promotional text and contact information for land agent George W. Traver. A full-page ad for the University of Washington Territory appears on page 159.

Not in Soliday. OCLC lists only five copies: Yale, New York Historical Society, Washington State Library, Seattle Public Library, University of Washington (lacking three leaves). Rare and significant. OCLC 671875477, 18265212, 42339626.