Rosskam, Edwin. San Francisco: West Coast Metropolis by Edwin Rosskam.

The Face of America series. Alliance, 1939. Introduction by William Saroyan. [Rosskam's first book, produced in collaboration with his wife Louise Rosskam. Innovative in the sequencing and layout of photographs.  The Rosskams went on to become associated with Roy Stryker at the Farm Security Administration, OWI, and Standard Oil. ] Cloth, VG+, with protected, very good, dust jacket chipped at spine tips (hard to find with a dust jacket in any condition).  Summary:

San Francisco: West Coast Metropolis by Edwin Rosskam (published in 1939 with an introduction by William Saroyan) is a documentary photography book that portrays the city of San Francisco at the height of its development as a major American urban center. Through a sequence of black-and-white photographs accompanied by Rosskam’s own text, the work captures the visual character, civic life, and social diversity of San Francisco in the late 1930s, presenting its streets, neighborhoods, architecture, and inhabitants in a compelling, photo-driven narrative.

Rather than a strictly historical or academic account, the book functions as a visual essay—Rosskam’s images document everyday scenes, urban rhythms, and the built environment of a metropolis shaped by economic growth, cultural complexity, and geographic distinctiveness. It offers readers both aesthetic impressions and sociological insights into the city’s people and places during a formative period in its history.

With Saroyan’s introduction setting the tone, Rosskam’s photographs and accompanying commentary together make San Francisco: West Coast Metropolis a snapshot of urban life on the Pacific Coast that blends documentary photography with reflective text to convey the spirit of a dynamic American city on the brink of mid-20th-century change.

Edwin Rosskam (1903–1985) was an American photographer, editor, and visual designer known for his documentary photography and work with federal historical projects during the Great Depression. Born in Munich to American parents, he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and spent time in Paris before pursuing photojournalism and graphic design. Working with Roy Stryker at the Farm Security Administration (FSA), Rosskam designed photo exhibitions and edited documentary picture books, most notably selecting images to pair with Richard Wright’s text for 12 Million Black Voices (1941). Alongside his wife and long-time collaborator, Louise Rosskam, he worked for the Standard Oil photo project and later established a documentary photo initiative for the government of Puerto Rico in the mid-1940s. Also an accomplished writer and author of the novel The Alien, Rosskam left behind a significant legacy in documentary photography, exhibition design, and photo-essay publishing.