david

I started by publishing the Checklist for three reasons: it established a baseline of Elder’s output, it was a chunk of work that could be completed in a reasonable time frame, and I had an eager publisher. A formal bibliography, at least one that I would feel proud to call my own, is a work of far larger scope. The logistical problems are daunting:

• after 25 years of searching, there are still titles of which I have never seen a single copy
• many of Elder’s books were published in multiple bindings, and/or special marketing names, and/or matching slipcases
• Elder published a large amount of ephemera: calendars, greeting cards, postcards, mottoes, etc.
• a huge amount of material was surely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire
• further material was no doubt lost during each bookstore move, and when the company was closed in 1968

And, of course, at the end of the road I would still need to find a publisher. In summary, a bibliography may still happen, but you’ll have to wait a while. In the meantime, this website must suffice.

updated 2025-02-19

Alas, the checklist is out of print and there are no immediate plans to print more. I have seen one or two come up for sale on auction sites such as Ebay and PBA Galleries.

But there’s good news! The entire checklist is now available on this very website and is always current, whereas the most recent printed checklist is now 20+ years out of date. Enjoy!

Updated 22 August 2025

I’ve been searching for Paul Elder titles since about 1995, and the checklist has been quite stable in recent years. In the past decade, there have been only two additions to the checklist: The Adventurous Bowman, a short booklet privately printed in 1915 during the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and The Antigone of Sophocles, which realized that I had mistakenly conflated with a companion volume.

I won’t be surprised if two or three hitherto unknown titles turn up in the coming years, but I will be surprised if it turns out to be more than that.

Updated 22 August 2025

The count currently stands at 412 titles (422 numbered entries, with ten titles later deleted upon further research). This total includes books, booklets, and pamphlets. I have included everything with a formal title page; all but a handful have bylines and publication dates. The count does not include magazines, catalogs or other ephemera.

I am asked this question more often than all the other questions combined.

Most Elder titles are not worth much money. They might be old, they might be beautiful, and they might be hard to find, but this does not necessarily make them valuable. What matters most is the book’s condition. Most Elder titles, even if they’re in excellent shape, sell on Ebay for $20-40. If the book still has its dust jacket, probably a bit more. If the book came in a special gift box, probably more than that. If, on the other hand, the book is in poor condition, it might not sell at all.

A few Elder titles are particularly well-known and desirable, such as:

• A Balloon Ascension at Midnight, Hall
• California The Beautiful, Elder
• Catalog Deluxe of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, Trask & Laurvik
• The House That Jack Built, Hyde
• Old Spanish Missions of California, Elder
• The Palace of Fine Arts and Lagoon, Maybeck
• The Raven and The Philosophy of Composition, Poe
• The Simple Home, Keeler
• Wayfarers in Italy, Hooker
• Western Classics series
• Yosemite Legends, Smith

Many titles were issued in more than one bindings, for example, paper over boards and cloth over boards. A few, such as the individual titles in the Mosaic Essays series, were issued in as many as five different bindings. Elder also issued a large amount of ephemera, much of which is now quite rare. Catalogs, particularly ones before 1912, and copies of his in-house magazine Impressions are also in demand.