Bird's Eye Views: Historic Lithographs of North American Cities

Bird's Eye Views: Historic Lithographs of North American Cities
John W. Reps (Author)

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As new towns and cities spread across the American frontier in the nineteenth century, itinerant artists soon followed, documenting these growing urban centers by drawing aerial perspectives, also known as bird's eye views. Commissioned by land speculators, local businesses, civic organizations, and individual citizens, these renderings fostered both civic pride and local commerce. The use of color lithography, a recent invention popularized by such prominent publishers as Currier & Ives, allowed the inexpensive reproduction of the highest-quality drawings, so that a bird's eye view was within the financial budget of even the smallest towns. These extraordinarily detailed lithographs eventually numbered in the thousands and now serve as a rich pictorial record of North America as it stood a century ago.
This sequel to our highly acclaimed title An Atlas of Rare City Maps collects over 100 views dating between 1835 and 1902, showing the streets, buildings, churches, bridges, waterways, and surrounding countryside of North American towns, ranging from burgeoning metropolitan centers to small logging towns and mining camps. Baltimore, Brooklyn, Denver, Indianapolis, Memphis, Montreal, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Syracuse, and Washington are just a few of the cities presented in this collection. The exquisite color and fine detail of these bird's eye views have been reproduced in all their original glory; also included is an introduction by John W. Reps providing a background on the artistic process and on urban development in the nineteenth century.

• Rank: #1213397 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 14.37" h x .83" w x 12.60" l, 3.94 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 116 pages

Description #1 by eBay:

Bird's Eye Views Historic Lithographs of North American Cities by John W. Reps HCDJ, Princeton Architectural Press, 1998, First Edition Huge coffee table style book, 15"x13"Very good condition, small nick on bottom edge of top book cover.DJ has 2{3/4}" tear along cover edge, also some creasing on back of DJ.Clean, bright pages, tight binding, Nice copy!~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~I accept all forms of PayPal!Shipping Media Mail shipping Insurance Delivery Confirmation I will combine shipping costs with other Media

Description #2 by eBay:

TheNile.com.au About FAQ Payment Delivery Contact Us 1800-987-323 Bird's Eye Views: Historic Lithographs of North American Cities (English) by John William Reps Format Hardcover Condition Brand New Language English As new towns and cities spread across the American frontier in the nineteenth century, itinerant artists soon followed, documenting these growing urban centers by drawing aerial perspectives, also known as bird #039;s eye views. Commissioned by land speculators, local businesses, civ

Description #3 by BzOverstock:

As new towns and cities spread across the American frontier in the nineteenth century, itinerant artists soon followed, documenting these growing urban centers by drawing aerial perspectives, also known as bird's eye views. Commissioned by land speculators, local businesses, civic organizations, and individual citizens, these renderings fostered both civic pride and local commerce. The use of color lithography, a recent invention popularized by such prominent publishers as Currier & Ives, allowed the inexpensive reproduction of the highest-quality drawings, so that a bird's eye view was within the financial budget of even the smallest towns. These extraordinarily detailed lithographs eventually numbered in the thousands and now serve as a rich pictorial record of North America as it stood a century ago.brThis sequel to our highly acclaimed titleiAn Atlas of Rare City Maps/icollects over 100 views dating between 1835 and 1902, showing the streets, buildings, churches, bridges, waterways, and surrounding countryside of North American towns, ranging from burgeoning metropolitan centers to small logging towns and mining camps. Baltimore, Brooklyn, Denver, Indianapolis, Memphis, Montreal, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Syracuse, and Washington are just a few of the cities presented in this collection. The exquisite color and fine detail of these bird's eye views have been reproduced in all their original glory; also included is an introduction by John W. Reps providing a background on the artistic process and on urban development in the nineteenth century.John W. Reps is professor emeritus of city and regional planning at Cornell University. He is a renowned authority on the history of American urban planning and has written numerous books on the topic, including The Making of Urban America, Cities of the A