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Striking large format early birds-eye view of Aspen by noted viewmaker Augustus Koch, the only known 19th Century view of Aspen.

Augustus Koch's view of Aspen provides a remarkably detailed depiction of the booming town of Aspen, illustrating 83 places of interest, including City Hall, Schools, the Roaring Fork Electric Light Company, Hotels (the Jerome, among others), 2 railroad depots and a public Tramway, Theaters, Mines and Mining Company Offices, Tunnels, Fire Stations, the Post Office, Schools, Churches, Residences, Saloons and the Race Track, among other places of interest. The detail is truly remarkable.

Augustus Koch's view of Aspen, published by the Hudson-Kimberly Publishing Company of Kansas City, Missouri, was to date known in a few recorded examples, one of which (the smaller version of 56 x 79 cm -- Library of Congress) would appear to be early proof state, reflecting the work of only a single stone. In his survey of American Views and Viewmakers, John Reps located examples in the Library of Congress and at the Bancroft Library. The example described by Reps and illustrated by on the Library of Congress website lacks any color and has significantly less detail than the second example described below. It also lacks the Hudson-Kimberly imprint.

The example offered here, printed in 3 colors, would seem to be consistent with the example in the collection of the Denver Public Library. This larger version (78 x 102 cm) appears to be Koch's finished work, including not just additional printed colors but also significant illustrations not present on the smaller version (for example, the clouds to the left of smuggler mountain). Among the known examples of the larger version of this view, there would seem to be two states, one with printing on the verso (Aspen Daily Times, February 14, 1899) and one which is blank on the verso. It would appear that the Denver Public Library has both states of the map and that the Hudson Kimberly imprint is present on both examples in the DPL. Augustus Koch's view of Aspen, published by the Hudson-Kimberly Publishing Company of Kansas City, Missouri, was to date known in a few recorded examples, one of which (the smaller version of 56 x 79 cm -- Library of Congress) would appear to be early proof state, reflecting the work of only a single stone. In his survey of American Views and Viewmakers, John Reps located examples in the Library of Congress and at the Bancroft Library. The example described by Reps and illustrated by on the Library of Congress website lacks any color and has significantly less detail than the second example described below. It also lacks the Hudson-Kimberly imprint.

The other colored edition of the map is printed in 4 colors, which is similar a prior example which we offered in 2009, except that it is about 1 inch smaller and 1 inch narrower. The difference in width is noticeable on the right side of the map, where additional information is shown. The most obvious difference between the two examples is the difference in colors. On closer examination, it appears that this second example was issued with one more color (a green tint stone). This does not account for the size difference, which could have been accomplished by masking the plate during a different series+of+impressions.

Because Koch had left Kansas City shortly after publishing this map and because Hudson-Kimberly is known to have published other views by Koch and there are no known examples of his work after 1898, it is doubtful that there was more than one printing of this colored edition of the map. The examples at DPL would appear to have been cut into four pieces and/or folded, making this quite probably the finest extant example of this tremendous rarity, which warrants further study.