1905 Italian American Directory: Guida generale per il commercio Italo Americano [General guide for the Italian American trade]. New York: Italian American Directory Co., 1905.

1905 Italian American Directory: Guida generale per il commercio Italo Americano [General guide for the Italian American trade]. New York: Italian American Directory Co., 1905.

Attempting to fill the same need that American city directories had long performed, this Italian American directory is notable for its national (and international) scope.

It leaves no possible advertising space unused, with a lively multicolored stamped cloth cover and even text inked to the fore-edge (for “Maffei & Co.,” who were “Consegnatori, Agenti & Rappresentanti [di] Prodotti Alimentari e Vini” [Consignors, Agents and Representatives of Food Products and Wines] at 304 West Street in Manhattan.

The names and addresses of Italians in the directory were organized generally by City, but in New York, even by borough, and then by trade. Italians in 44 of the then-48 states as well as Washington, D.C. were listed by name, and organized by county and trade. This is immensely useful; for example, it permitted me to see the number of Italian book sellers and publishers in various cities and states.

A demographic map of the U.S. shows the distribution of Italians across the country, and their population in each state. New York easily held the largest Italian population, with 612,128 Italians (including my grandfather, Joseph Periconi, listed under “barbers,” at 1703 Madison Avenue in East Harlem in Manhattan). The states are ranked down, with second most populous, Pennsylvania, with a population of 241,425 Italians, and Oklahoma with the fewest, with 76.

Among the Italian language book seller and publisher advertisers from New York was that of the author of the Nuovissima grammatica accelerata, Angelo De Gaudenzi (q.v.), here “editore e librai” (publisher and bookseller), which offered “at your request to send a ‘prospectus’ for the establishment of a bookstore to be supplied with books at reasonable prices.”

The Italian American Directory Company published two other works that are in the Collection: the monumental elephant folio Gli Italiani negli Stati Uniti d'America and the Guida alla salute: Il come prevenire le malattie, come curarle, come riguadagnare la salute, estesa descrizione delle cause, sintomi, e trattamento di tutte le malattie del corpo umano con un capitolo sul matrimonio e la vita sessuale. 

All three works by that publisher were published within a year or so of each other.