The Illustrated Directory of Oakland, California is a beautifully illustrated listing of businesses in Oakland in 1896. It was created by the The Illustrated Directory Company of Oakland, California, which also created a similar directory of San Francisco. Eli S. Glover was the manager.
Not only does it include detailed etchings of the major buildings and business blocks in Oakland, it lists the owners and a description of many of the business. The printing was done by the Oakland Enquirer Publishing Company. Given there were only two books printed, Oakland and San Francisco, it seems likely the directories were not a financial success.
A copy is available for reference at the Oakland History Room. There are also beautiful scans of the book available at the David Rumsey Map Collection.
A number of OaklandWiki pages reference the directory:
