Mechanics’ Institute library manager Myles Cooper takes a key from his pocket, unlocks a display case and picks up a soot-stained copy of “Echoes of the Foot-Hills,” published by San Francisco writer Bret Harte in 1875. The book of poetry begins by setting the scene with a series of rhyming couplets about the Presidio.
“Looking seaward, o’er the sand-hills stands the fortress old and quaint, by the San Francisco friars lifted to their patron saint,” it reads. It’s the type of view that might’ve been enjoyed by a certain Agnes Quigley, whose name appears hand-written on one of the title pages.
The book was part of the Institute’s collection of 200,000 volumes, which burned in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake. And until last year, it was presumed to be lost forever.
It’s just one of the many relics hiding in the private library, social club and ground zero of the Bay Area chess community a block from Market Street. The organization was founded in 1854 as something of a roaming trade library where Gold Rush era workers could research new crafts, complete with a huge patent library consulted by budding inventors. It also hosted chess tournaments…