The Rabbit Hole
All views

Compare city overviews

1870 ± 10 years

Nine cities on one screen. Original images. Dates. Source institutions. Image type labeled on every plate. No interpretation until afterward.

American cells in this window are mostly lithographs. Several European cells are photographs — a balloon plate, a rooftop, a dome, a cathedral. Berlin is a European lithograph. St. Petersburg is a drawn panorama. The mix is the point. Do not flatten it.

  1. The City of Chicago as it was before the great conflagration, 1872. W. Flint. Bird's-eye illustration / lithograph.

    1872·Chicago

    The City of Chicago as it was before the great conflagration

    W. Flint

    Bird's-eye illustration / lithograph

  2. The City of St. Louis, 1874. Parsons & Atwater; published by Currier & Ives.. Bird's-eye illustration / lithograph.

    1874·St. Louis

    The City of St. Louis

    Parsons & Atwater; published by Currier & Ives.

    Bird's-eye illustration / lithograph

  3. New York — Battery Park and the East River, 1873. George Schlegel, artist; George Degen, publisher.. Bird's-eye illustration / lithograph.

    1873·New York

    New York — Battery Park and the East River

    George Schlegel, artist; George Degen, publisher.

    Bird's-eye illustration / lithograph

  4. Aerial view of Paris — Place de l’Étoile, 1868. Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon), from Henri Giffard’s tethered balloon.. True aerial photograph.

    1868·Paris

    Aerial view of Paris — Place de l’Étoile

    Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon), from Henri Giffard’s tethered balloon.

    True aerial photograph

  5. On the rooftops of London, c. 1865. Unknown photographer. National Library of Ireland, STP_0424.. Elevated photograph.

    c. 1865·London

    On the rooftops of London

    Unknown photographer. National Library of Ireland, STP_0424.

    Elevated photograph

  6. St Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, c. 1870. Michael Frankenstein, photographer.. Elevated photograph.

    c. 1870·Vienna

    St Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna

    Michael Frankenstein, photographer.

    Elevated photograph · Surviving

  7. Berlin from a bird’s-eye, 1871. Robert Meinhardt. Colored lithograph; first issued 1868, this state 1871.. Bird's-eye illustration / lithograph.

    1871·Berlin

    Berlin from a bird’s-eye

    Robert Meinhardt. Colored lithograph; first issued 1868, this state 1871.

    Bird's-eye illustration / lithograph

  8. Panorama from the dome of St Peter’s, c. 1860s. Unidentified photographer. Albumen print from collodion negative.. Elevated photograph.

    c. 1860s·Rome

    Panorama from the dome of St Peter’s

    Unidentified photographer. Albumen print from collodion negative.

    Elevated photograph · Surviving

  9. Panorama of Saint Petersburg, 1861. Period drawn panorama (waterfront strip).. Bird's-eye illustration / lithograph.

    1861·St. Petersburg

    Panorama of Saint Petersburg

    Period drawn panorama (waterfront strip).

    Bird's-eye illustration / lithograph

How to read this screen

  • A lithograph is a drawing from an imagined high point. It can name streets and invent a viewpoint no camera occupied.
  • An elevated photograph is a camera on a roof, a hill, or a dome. It holds what the lens could see from that spot.
  • A true aerial photograph is a camera in a balloon. Nadar, 1868. Liébert, 1889 — that second plate is kept in the aerial drawer, not forced into this window.
  • St. Paul, Minnesota, 1893 and Duluth, 1883 sit in the U.S. collection and out of this window on purpose. Minneapolis 1879 is the last year that still fits. Do not slide a later sheet backward to fill a named city.

After you have read the types, open Same city, two kinds— Chicago drawn against Chicago photographed, London drawn against London photographed, Paris from a balloon against Paris being demolished at street height.