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Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2000 13:34:38 -0500
From: Nat Case <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: city view c, 1890
Sender: Nat Case <[log in to unmask]>



I'm working on a drawn city view by John Bachmann from very late in
his life, c.1890. It is labelled on the back as being of New York
before erection of the Statue of Liberty, but I am more and more
convinced it is of another city altogether.

The view includes a late-19th century battleship, making the period
shown roughly contemporary to the time of the actual drawing. and has
a grid-based city on the right (thus presumably American, not
European), a four-cornered battery fort on the left, with the inlet
to a meandering harbor (more like the Chesapeake or Potomac than the
Hudson) in the middle. I had though the fort might be Governor's
Island (the author of the inscription, Bachmann's daughter, must have
thought it was Miss Liberty's base), but it appears to be on a
headland rather than an island, and if it is an island, it is
separated from the background by very narrow water. In front of the
fort is a small lighthouse.

I've compared the view to the cosatal cities I know he had drawn
previously (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston,
Havana, New Orleans), and while Charleston and Havana have
tantalizing similarities, I don't think it is a drawing of either one.

Would anyone would be willing to look at a couple of JPEGs of the
view for me and hazard a guess or suggestion? I will email them
separately if desired. Thanks.

Nat Case
Hedberg Maps
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