Bird's Eye New York

Full colour perspective view from Yonkers to South Norwalk in the north and from Freeport to Ellis Island in the south.

Brown paper covers printed in black entitled "Bird's Eye View Map Of East And North Rivers And Long Island Sound Price 10 Cents - New York C.S. Hammond & Co. Publishers. Scale 1:80,033."





Drawn from nature & on stone by J. Bachman[n] and published by A. Guerber & Co.
The lithograph (63 x 82 cm) shows Battery Park and Governors Island in the foreground; with prominent features numbered in a key below the image.

"John Bachmann, Sr. (1814–1896) was a Swiss-born lithographer and artist best known for his bird's-eye views, especially of New York City. He was a journeyman lithographic artist in Switzerland and Paris until 1847. His first known American print [..] appeared in 1848, a view from an imagined point above Union Square in New York, looking south toward The Battery.

In 1849 and 1850, he created and published a series of American views, including views of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Havana. Both directly copied and used as a primary source by other lithographers at home and in Europe, these were the first major bird's eye views (drawn from an imagined perspective), as opposed to panoramic views (views drawn directly from the artists experience) in the United States."

Also see: Maphead and George Glazer Gallery entries ONE & TWO.






Drawn by Simpson, lithography by Theodore Muller




Artist: John Bachmann; published by LW Schmidt

Chromolithographic print showing a bird's-eye view of New York City with the Hudson River and the New Jersey waterfront on the left, New York Harbor and Governors Island in the right foreground, Battery Park, Manhattan, the East River, Brooklyn Bridge, and the borough of Brooklyn in the centre.





Created by George Schlegel lithographers; published by George Degen.

"The Brooklyn Bridge is obviously inaccurate as the bridge wouldn’t be completed for another 10 years" [source]




Gracie Emmett in her Great Play - The Pulse of New York by Howard P Taylor [1891]

This advertising poster for Emmett's play includes a legend of points of interest on each side of the map with locations related to the play in red.

[this image was spliced together from severed halves]






Print by George Schegel, published by George Degen.






Grand birds eye view of the Great East River suspension bridge Connecting the cities of New York & Brooklyn : Showing also the splendid panorama of the bay and the port of New York [1892]

"Construction commenced January, 1870 Completed May, 1873. Estimated cost $15,000,000"

Published by Currier & Ives.






Created by Ferd. Mayer & Sons, Lithographers; published by Geo. Degen.








Created by Charles Hart; published by Joseph Koehler

Bird's-eye view of greater New York with Battery Park on the right and showing the boroughs of Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Richmond, with the Hudson River in the foreground; prominent features and locations are listed below image.




Cityscape panoramic print of New York showing the waterfront, Brooklyn Bridge, with Battery Park and Governors Island in the foreground

Produced by John Bachmann for George Schlegel; published by Tamsen & Dethlefs






The Port of New York: Birds Eye View from the Battery, looking South [1872]

Produced by CR Parsons & LW Atwater and published by Currier & Ives





A breathtaking view of New York Harbour by the celebrated American publishers, Currier & Ives

One of the grand Currier and Ives' lithographs of New York {26 x 37 inches} this sweeping view from Battery Park looks out over a bustling New York Harbour. The view takes us past the Narrows and out to the open sea, where the horizon is punctuated by numerous ships masts. The harbour is also dotted with a myriad of steam ships, sailing schooners, yachts, barges, rowing boats, etc; all proving the city's position as one of the world's most important ports.

Along the walkways of Battery Park, crowds stroll or stand and marvel at the bustle of the river. Castle Garden sits prominently in the right foreground and is surrounded by numerous outbuildings. "From 1855 to 1900, Castle Garden was used as an immigration depot, processing more than 7.5 million people."

Bedloe's Island can be seen in middle-distance, sans the Statue of Liberty, which was erected in 1885. Forty-eight landmarks are listed below the image including Greenwood Cemetery, Bergen Bay, and Ellis Island. This fascinating print is one of the most picturesque of all the Currier & Ives views of Manhattan. The lithographers' and artists' careful attention to detail and the beautiful overall composition all make this one of the greatest of all the images issued by this prolific American printing house.

Currier and Ives are the most famous lithographic print publishers of the nineteenth century. Among their vast body of work are a number of topographical views; these are usually restricted to the large metropolises, especially New York, which was not only their home town but also their largest market. Their strategy to attract their audience appears to have been to create very large, highly detailed views from a breathtaking bird's-eye perspective, and to issue new editions of their views as frequently as was necessary to keep up with the ever-changing skyline of the city. Parsons and Atwater produced almost all the city views published by Currier & Ives in the years following the Civil War. In particular they were responsible for creating almost all the views of New York published by the firm between 1872 and 1892.

Source cites: Gale, Currier & Ives: A Catalogue Raisonné, 5257; Reps, Views and Viewmakers of Urban America, 2711, p. 196-198; & more.






Hint: small addition in the background




Bird's-eye-view of the borough of Brooklyn showing parks, cemeteries, principal buildings, suburbs. [1897]

Perspective map, not drawn to scale. Signed "Geo. Welch"





Proposed site for World's Fair in 1883 - between 110th and 125th Streets, Morning Side and River Side Parks, N.Y. Area 300 acres.

As published in Demorest's Illustrated Monthly magazine from 1879

"The World’s Fair That Never Was"

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The vast majority of images in this post were sourced from the Library of Congress. All the images above have been uploaded in very large jpeg format, but the original [enormous] .tiff files should be sought if you want print quality.

• Popular Graphic Arts
• American Memory: New York Aerial Views

Searching on the image titles listed above turns up the Library of Congress results fairly easily in any event.

Other source or helper sites: Rumsey Maps; Boston Library; Ward Maps; NYPL; Columbia; the Big Map Blog. [also, interactive 1865 lower Manhattan]

There is also a fair choice of New York bird's-eye images at Amazon.

The images below are much smaller, comparatively speaking.

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Bird's-eye view of New York City with Battery Park in the foreground and Brooklyn Heights in the lower right corner. Published by N Currier. {larger versions are available}







Bird's-eye view from the south by August R. Ohman, map publisher, draughtsman & engraver {larger version}






New York: a birdseye view from the harbor, showing Manhattan Island in its surroundings, with various points of interest in the city and the location of Rogers, Peet & Co.'s building, the exact center of the clothing trade in New York City. Published by Rogers, Peet & Co. Wholesalers and Retail Clothiers 1879. [Printed by Currier & Ives]


On general principles, see - Bowsprite : A New York Harbor Sketchbook.

See also: Geographicus.