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Approx. 52 leaves of lined paper in a notebook, written in ink, with numerous items glued in and inserted in illustration of the narrative, including photographs, clippings, documents, etc. 9¾x7¾, boards.

Fascinating and significant memoir written by German emigrant who came to America at age 20 to seek his fortune. Christian Schachtebeck was born in Bremen in 1862, was apprenticed to a bank at age 16, and upon completion of his apprenticeship in 1882 set out for America. In San Francisco he got a job as a clerk in a grocery store, and a year later began working at the Bank of California, where he stayed for 23 years. He also engaged in some entrepreneurship, producing a San Francisco Telephone Directory in 1893 in partnership with William P. Sprague. The first 20 leaves of his vivid account cover his childhood and youth in Germany, the next 10 his journey to America, and the final 22 his time in San Francisco and final decades in San Diego, including his observations of the 1906 earthquake and fire. Adding tremendously to his account are the numerous objects inserted or glued to the pages. These include, in no particular order: A dummy copy of his “San Francisco Classified-Business Telephone Directory for San Francisco and Suburbs,” 12 pp. (the final edition was 112 pp., as evidenced by the printing bill from Hicks-Judd for 1000 copies); the Partnership Agreement between Schachtebeck and Sprague; a tintype photograph of the two; copyright notice from the Library of Congress for the directory; a cdv photograph of a painting of the Bank of California building; albumen photograph of the grocery store at O’Farrell and Jones where he worked; the large ticket for his passage across the Atlantic; the small leather coin purse he carried is money in while crossing to America; two coins that were on his mother’s Gypsy dress; letters and telegrams congratulating him on his marriage; a photograph of workers cleaning up debris at the bank following the 1906 earthquake; and much more.