“Bird’s Eye View of Sherbrooke, P. Q.” print by Henry Wellge (1881)

John Reps’ 1984 Views and Viewmakers of Urban America is considered the dictionary of images like this, carefully cataloging the 3500 or so “bird’s eye view” decorative map prints made in North America from 1825 to 1925. It’s not perfect, but it has a short biography of Henry Wellge in it and counts seven Quebec views he drew in 1881. I’m aware of at least twelve of them, and there may be more of them growing mould in a marché aux puces near you. 

Anyway, in 1881 the German-born American Wellge was fledgling artist and lithographer, splitting his time between Wisconsin, Québec, and Vermont. His first view (Milwaukee) was drawn just three years earlier, and he’d draw over 150 before retiring in 1910. Reps describes him as “prolific” and mentions that his later work was “always attractively drawn” and “printed with admirable skill”. But his early work is hit and miss. 

I’ve included his Sherbrooke, St. John’s (St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu), Sorel and Trois Rivières prints in this collection because they’re well-done and thoroughly detailed. His other Québec works (of Bedford, Berthier, Coaticook, Farnham, Lennoxville, Rock Island, Waterloo, and Joliette) are not as impressive, maybe even rushed. Sometimes artists like Wellge prioritized their time on cities with lots of potential customers, and smaller towns were drawn more because they were “on the way” to bigger paydays than as serious projects themselves. 

This Sherbrooke image is the best of his work. It’s everything a B&W bird’s eye view of a city should be: thick with detail, layered with topographic depth, using the most interesting perspective (in Sherbrooke’s case, westward) instead of defaulting to the north, and having at least one little vignette (C. F. Fletcher’s Spring Brewery at bottom right). This was the first map of its kind that I encountered. I‘m happy it found me. 

A reproduction available at 16x12" or 24x18" on Epson Enhanced Matte 192 gsm paper printed with Epson UltraChrome XD2 archival ink. Sold in an open edition, unframed. Based on this original public domain image held by the Library of Congress.