John Bachmann's birdseye map of New York and Environs in 1866.
| Birdseye View of New York and Environs – Bachmann | |
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| Date: | 1866 |
| Author: | John Bachmann |
| Dwnld: | Full Size (7.0mb) |
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| See our Prints Page for more details | |
This map isn't part of any series, but we have other New York City maps that you might want to check out.
This view of Manhattan from the south with Battery Park [gmap] in the foreground is by John Bachmann
His wikipedia page mentions that he's ”perhaps best known for his birdseye views” -- and that may be true -- but I'm here to tell you that most of his birdseyes can't hold a candle to some of the other men on this site (none of whom have a Wikipedia page written about them yet, by the way). Yes indeed, Most of Bachmann's birdseyes were amateurish. This one, however, is not. It's pretty gorgeous.
For more maps and images from this period in the region's history, visit the New York Historical Society.
Amateurish? I’m curious what you mean here. The quality of his drawing was excellent, better than many of the later folk. In fact, as the first maker of large-format bird’s eye views in the US, he is unusual in having a really strong almost painterly quality to his views. Most later viewmakers adopted a harder-edged, more technical-drawing style. So I’m wondering what you’re seeing in Bachmann?
He certainly had some peculiar lens-like effects, which I think was a lot of what fascinated him about these views. He never repeated a viewpoint in his many views of New York.
You may be interested in my blog post on Bachmann :
http://maphead.blogspot.com/2009/03/john-bachmann.html
Or not.
Didn’t see this until now, and this absolutely deserves an answer. I’m real glad to have been contacted by a person who has some expertise in the area. I’ll think on it and draw up some sort of reason behind my wild libel.
(Of course I might forget, too… so if someone sees this a year from now, please do me a favor in calling it to my attention).
Thanks for checking in, Mr Case.