Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0847828719, Hardcover)

San Francisco in Maps documents the evolution of this fascinating and beautiful city through 72 breathtaking antiquarian maps, spanning four centuries. The gorgeous maps, many of them hand colored and rarely seen, bring alive the history of this vibrant city. These maps range from the early days when they served to aid ship navigation of this unfamiliar and frequently foggy harbor; to the gold rush era in the mid-1800s, when the city's population grew exponentially and it saw the beginnings of neighborhoods like Chinatown, many of which persist to today; to the period before and after the great earthquake of 1906, which destroyed 80 percent of the city, and from out of which modern San Francisco emerged.