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Extremely rare large scale birdseye view of Savannah, Georgia, by Augustus Koch for the Morning News in Savannah.
A numbered key identifies 102 different businesses, public buildings, and churches. Vignette images include the board of trade building, County court house, De Soto hotel, Guckenhelmer & Sons wholesale house, and Altmeyer & Co's. Dry goods store.
The view was drawn by Augustus Koch, one of the most prolific American view makers. As noted by the Amon Carter Museum:
Augustus Koch (1840-?) was born in Birnbaum, Germany. He received a good education (whether in Germany or this country is not known) and served as a clerk and draughtsman in the Engineers Office of the Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War. Although his English was poor, he won an assignment as an engineering officer with an African-American regiment serving in the Lower Mississippi Valley.
He began his bird's-eye-view career with a few pictures of Iowa cities in 1868 and 1869. He traveled to several other states, from California to New York and Alabama, before arriving in Texas in 1873. He worked for years with Joseph J. Stoner of Madison, Wisconsin, the same person who served as agent for both Drie and Brosius, who preceded him to Texas. Koch produced some twenty-four views of Texas cities that are known and dozens of views of cities in other states. Koch's views are known for their detail and accuracy. He returned to Texas on at least two subsequent occasions, revisiting cities that he had already drawn and producing updates for cities such as Austin, Brenham, and San Antonio. His death date is not known.
OCLC locates 1 copy. Georgia Historical Society.
Augustus Koch (1840-?) was one of the most prolific American engravers of Birds Eye Views working outside of the major publishing centers. Koch initially served in the Union Army during the Civil War as a clerk and draughtsman in the Engineers Office in St. Louis. Although his English was poor, he was later commissioned as an officer and assigned to one of the Black regiments serving in Mississippi where he drew maps for the advancing Union forces. By 1865 he is thought to have contracted malaria and at 25, was discharged from the army.
By 1868, Koch had become an itinerant Bird's Eye View engraver. His earliest dated views are of Cedar Falls, Vinton, and Waterloo, Iowa. At that point his career seemed to take off and in rapid succession, maps by Koch were produced in every section of the country. In 1870 he produced 5 maps in Utah, Wyoming and California. In all, Koch produced over 100 views, including over 20 Texas Views, during a career of 30 years. His last recorded view was produced in Montana in 1898.
Reps notes that while Koch engraved fewer views than some of his contemporaries, "no American viewmaker traveled more widely in search of subjects. . . "
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