Muybridge, Eadweard. San Francisco 1878: Portrait of the City by Robert S. McBain.

Wells Fargo Bank, 1979. First edition (later reissued in 1987). History of the 1878 panorama by Eadweard Muybridge that Wells Fargo Bank had enlarged to 75 feet in diameter. Includes illustrations. Wrapa, 42 pages, fine. Summary:

San Francisco 1878: Portrait of the City (1979) is a 32-page historical monograph and commemorative booklet written by Robert S. McBain and published by Wells Fargo Bank. The publication chronicles the creation, technological execution, and cultural legacy of Eadweard Muybridge’s legendary 1878 panoramic photograph of San Francisco, serving as a companion text to a corporate exhibition that showcased a massive, enlarged reproduction of the image.

The booklet details how a landmark piece of Victorian photographic engineering captured a rapidly growing metropolis at its peak.

Core Themes & Content

• The Anatomy of Muybridge’s Panorama: The text explores the technical audacity behind Muybridge's 360-degree view of the city. Taken from the tower of Mark Hopkins’ newly constructed mansion atop Nob Hill, the panorama was stitched together from 11 large-format glass plate negatives. McBain breaks down how Muybridge meticulously timed his exposures over several hours on a clear summer day to ensure consistent lighting across the horizon.

• A Cityscape Formed by Wealth: The publication provides contextual historical background on the booming urban architecture visible in the images. McBain spotlights the early, opulently designed mansions of San Francisco's Gilded Age railroad barons and silver magnates, framing the physical city as a direct manifestation of the Comstock Lode and California Gold Rush fortunes.

• An Unprecedented Visual Record: The booklet functions as a vital architectural directory. Because it was printed in rich sepia tones on heavy tan paper to evoke a vintage aesthetic, it allows readers to systematically identify long-lost street grids, harbor ships, industrial factories, and residential neighborhoods before they were entirely rewritten by the catastrophic 1906 earthquake and fire.

• The Wells Fargo Exhibition Project: McBain records the modern corporate conservation effort by Wells Fargo Bank to blow up Muybridge’s original imagery into a monumental, continuous display measuring 75 feet in diameter, allowing 20th-century audiences to figuratively stand in the center of 1878 San Francisco.

San Francisco 1878 bridges the gap between commercial bank history and rigorous photographic scholarship. Through McBain's narrative, the booklet frames Muybridge's sprawling panoramic project not simply as a curious vintage photograph, but as the definitive, ultimate visual artifact of a frontier settlement transforming into a sophisticated global metropolis.