A Remarkable Achievement in Cartographic Print Making
First edition of Bauerkeller's remarkable and extraordinarily rare world atlas, including maps made using a novel combination of printing techniques in an attempt at relief-like cartographic representation. The atlas was issued by subscription over a period of years. The present example includes 88 maps dated 1845 through 1861, which is a full complement of the maps.
Georg Bauerkeller became well known for his invention of 'geomontography' ("earth-mountain description"). In the present atlas Bauerkeller combined letterpress, planographic printing and an emboss printing technique using zinc plates, resulting in a visually stunning suite of maps exhibiting subtle dimensional qualities. The atlas was the result of a collaboration between the geographer Ludwig Wilhelm Ewald and the Bauerkeller printing house in Darmstadt, which began in 1845. Bauerkeller also produced separate maps of a few cities (e.g. London, Paris, Mexico City, and others), which are noted as early three-dimensional cartographic representations. A geographical atlas was planned, which would not only represent topography, but also the mathematical and physical conditions of the earth.
Rumsey notes:
[This] atlas was conceived of and initiated by ... Bauerkeller beginning in 1844 by subscription [but the first maps were not printed until 1846]. From at least 1845, Ludwig Ewald was a primary author and was responsible for drafting the maps.
Considered by authorities to be one of the most beautiful atlases of the 19th century, it is particularly noteworthy for its quality registration, sharp images, use of brown for relief and solid blue for water, multi-color lithography, and it's scope of content.
Most of the text planned to accompany the maps was never completed.
The atlas was largely ignored by contemporary and subsequent scholars despite its high quality. . . . the 80 sheets were not originally issued in the table of contents order that we present. Bauerkeller was also known for his three dimensional maps of cities... of London, Paris, Hamburg, and others.
Unique Combination of Printing Techniques
Bauerkeller's process involved the use of typographic color printing and specialized metal (likely zinc) printing plates to create relief effects. According to Espenhorst, 14 maps in this atlas (dating from 1846-48) used this technique - which is easily detected by examining the verso of the sheet where relief type embossing can be discerned.
Our atlas has 18 embossed relief maps:
- 1 - Planets
- 2 - Double hemisphere astronomical and comet map
- 8 - World temperature map
- 26 - World
- 27 - Stereographic Projections
- 28 - Europe
- 32 - Germany
- 35 - Europe
- 36 - Asia
- 41 - Europe
- 47 - Austria
- 55 - France
- 56 - Netherlands and Belgium
- 57 - Russia
- 58 - Sweden and Norway (south part)
- 59 - Sweden and Norway (north part)
- 62 - Spain
- 65 - Turkey
Ten of the maps are present in both their original embossed iteration and 1860s straight lithographic replacement version (28, 32, 35, 41, 47, 55, 58, 59, 62, and 65).
Given the unusual publishing history summarized above, particularly the atlas' issuance by subscription, extant examples present different combinations of map issues, with varying numbers of embossed maps.
Espenhorst styles the Bauerkeller process as "raised zinc etchings," which is somewhat misleading given that etchings are traditionally understood as an intaglio printing process, that is, they do not involve a raised surface as in woodcuts or letterpress and which would clearly be required to make the embossed impressions in Bauerkeller's maps.
In 1832 Georg Michael Bauerkeller (1805-1886) in Frankfurt published maps which used a combination of book printing and stone plate [i.e. lithographic] printing techniques. Later Bauerkeller developed a process which he called "Geomontographie" which he used to depict terrain relief. This process combined with book printing techniques was used to print three maps in Bauerkellers Hand-atlas der allgemeinen Erdkunde. But in 1846-1850 he changed to a combination of book printing and raised zinc printing: the lettering on the map was printed from typeset plates, and the balance of the map was then printed from raised zinc etchings. - Espenhorst, Petermann's Planet, A Guide to German Handatlases and Their Siblings Throughout the World, 1800-1950, pages 52-53.
After Bauerkeller emigrated to America in 1848, the publishers Jonghaus and Venator took over the printing company and the project was continued using lithography. A supplement of 14 replacement maps printed with straight lithography was offered in 1860-62. It is interesting to note that even when using straight lithography, the maps issued by Jonghaus and Venator continued in look, if not entirely in feel, to be of a piece with the earlier Bauerkeller maps, with characteristic borderline coloring, indicating the printers' attempt to replicate the visual effect of the dimensional productions using the conventional planographic printing technique of lithography.
Standout maps in the atlas:
- Mexico und Texas. 1851. Also includes most of present-day Southwest, including Southern California, as far north as San Luis Obisbo.
- Vereinigte Staaten von Nord-America und Canada. 1851.
- 3 different versions of North America and South America map sheet. America Uebersicht der americanischen Staaten und europaeischen Besitzungen.
According to Espenhorst, an octavo text or handbook of general geography by W. Eder was intended as a complement to the atlas, but it is not usually found with the atlas as the handbook's publication was delayed until 1862. Some copies of the atlas also include a few pages of text, likely issued with the original fascicles of the atlas, but no text is present in our example.
Rarity
The present atlas, with what is surely a full complement of 88 maps, is very rare in the market.