If there was only one name to remember for the 19th century raised relief maps, it would undoubtedly be Bauerkeller. Behind this name are actually two brothers, two countries (Germany and France) and several companies over a period between 1830 and 1880. Thanks to constant technical innovation and commercial dynamism, the Bauerkeller brothers (mainly Elder Georg Michael Bauerkeller) will produce and distribute a large number of high quality and affordable topographic maps on a large scale. Bauerkeller's production marks a new stage in the democratization of relief maps, and their maps will dominate the new market created. The diversity of the maps produced and the international impact of these maps are unique in the history of relief mapping. The years 1840 to 1860 were a golden age for Bauerkeller companies, whose activity was gradually to decline with the end of the novelty appeal. Contrary to Ravenstein, the firm Bauerkeller did not survive its founders and despite some contemporary works, Bauerkeller's fame did not go beyond the borders of the 19th century.

German training

The Bauerkeller brothers come from Wertheim in the present state of Baden-Würtemberg. Georg Michael Bauernkeller (GMB) was born on 04 January 1805 in Wertheim to Georg Philip Bauernkeller and Anna Elisabetha Grossmann, his second wife. His half-brother Georg Leonhart Bauernkeller (GLB) was born on 22nd October 1809 of the third wife of G. P. Gauernkeller : Sophia Catharina Klein. Except in the archives of Wertheim, only Bauerkeller's name (without n)for one of the two brothers will be found.
GMB lived in Frankfurt between 1831 and 1833, where he married Anna Elisabeth Hoock on 24/07/1831, who gave him two daughters born in Frankfurt in 1832 and 1833. As print worker, he was interested in the combination of lithography (for drawing) and typography (for text) for the production of geographical maps. He publishes at J. P.'s. Streng several maps from this technique: road map of Germany, map of the Rhine and Main countries, map of the baths of the Duchy of Nassau, map of Frankfurt. Bauerkeller promotes his work by distributing specimens of his maps to several scholarly societies in Germany, France and England. During his stay in Frankfurt, he had to work alongside August Ravenstein (1809-1881) author of Plastischer Schul-Atlas, with whom he then worked in Paris for the Rhine panorama map.
GMB returned to Wertheim in 1833, where he published the map "Travelling Map of England" and his son was born on 05/09/1834 (16 days later). The two Bauerkeller brothers founded the book and map printing company "Bauerkeller Brüder" in Wertheim on 19/11/1833. GLB, a lithographer, was the sole manager of the company between 1835 and 1836.

Departure to Paris

In March 1835 GMB and art and book dealer Friedrich Gutsch founded a new printing company in Karlsruhe in March 1835:
"Artistisches Institut Bauerkeller & Gutsch". They then set up with the printer Poussielgue a branch "Bauerkeller & Gutsch" in Paris during the year 1836 where the Bauerkeller family (GMB) probably immigrated in the summer of 1837, joined by his brother for two years. The third daughter of GMB was born in Karlsruhe on 30/08/1836, but the fourth daughter was born in Paris on 19/10/1837. In 1837, the firm Bauerkeller & Gutsch split into two separate entities, Bauerkeller dealing with the one in Paris (which became Bauerkeller & Cie) and Gutsch from the one in Karlruhe (Artistisches Institut Gebrüder Gutsch).

The Paris-based company firstly specialises in "city articles" (embossed paper, lampshades, address cards, etc.) and rapidly grew in size. Originally located at 380 rue Saint Denis passage Lemoine, the company inaugurated a new and more spacious workshop in Belleville in 1845. A lithographer's certificate was awarded on 20 November 1838 to Walter Berger, a Bauerkeller worker who as a German could not obtain it. Bauerkeller & Cie was awarded a bronze medal at the 1839 industrial exhibition for its printing objects, particularly the relief city plans. The first plan of this type, from Paris, appeared in 1839. Bauerkeller won another bronze medal in 1844 and a silver medal in 1849. Following a request of 16 January 1839, Bauerkeller also obtained a patent on 13 July 1840 for the production of relief maps. He obtained another one in 1844 for the lampshades. Bauerkeller is present in various national and international exhibitions (Berlin 1844, Paris 1855, Vienna 1873). He obtained a second class medal at the Paris World Exhibition in 1855.

The adventures of an innovative company

The first of the relief maps that would make up the company's international reputation appeared in Paris in 1839:"environs de Paris en relief". The company will publish about twenty different relief maps during the 1840-1850 decade and about fifteen city maps without ceasing the printing of "city articles". This period was particularly marked by the attempted counterfeiting of the company by a former employee and collaborator Obermüller who published two relief maps in 1843 and 1844 (France and Germany). Bauerkeller & Co. also objected in 1843 to the creation of a printing works by a group of its former workers, to whom the administration ruled in favour of their former employer on 22/09/1843 by authorising the operation of the workshop.

Bauerkeller & Cie was dissolved on March 12,1849 due to management problems and the material and a patent were sold to Walter Berger who published some relief maps under his name. However, the company did not really stop its activity and Bauerkeller & Cie was reborn from its ashes on 3 April 1851 thanks to a commercial agreement between GMB and his son-in-law Charles Hoock for a period of 15 years. According to Jeanblanc, the company employed 45 workers in 1851 (including 7 engravers, modellers and fitters, 16 printers and embossers, 12 painters and varnishers and 9 carton makers). In 1870 the company changed its name to Hoock & Bauerkeller.

GLB had an international presence: he was present in Vienna between 1842 and 1844, when he joined Darmstadt to found, probably in conjunction with his brother, the company "Bauerkeller's Präganstalt Jonghaus und Venator", which would also publish relief maps (and wallpapers). The company's most famous geographical work is the "Bauerkellers Handatlas", one of the most beautiful atlases of the 19th century according to the German specialist J. Espenhorst, notably due to the innovative use of colours. The atlas will then be renamed "Ewald's Handatlas" after Ludwig Ewald, principal cartographer of this project. GLB emigrated to New York in 1848 where he died the same year. Bauerkeller's name was retained until 1856, when the company was renamed "Jonghaus und Venator".
GMB died in Paris on March 01,1886 after having experienced the joy of seeing his son Guillaume Rodolphe begin a brilliant career as a violinist.

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Bauerkeller & Cie

Between 1840 and 1879, more than 20 different relief maps were published in addition to the various reprints and variants.

• Environs de Paris en relief
• Ile Sainte Hélène en relief
• Panorama du Rhin
• La Suisse et les pays limitrophes
• Le Mont-Blanc
• L'Europe
• La France et la Belgique
• Deuschland und Niederland
• Great britain and Ireland
• La Russie Européenne
• Etats Unis d'Amérique du Nord
• Antilles et Amérique centrale
• Sardaigne
• Espana y Portugal
• Königreich Württemberg
• Grossherzogstum Hessen
• RheinLand u. Westphalen
• Empire Ottoman
• Italie
• Hémisphère de l'Est
• Central Amercia
• Plan en relief de Sébastopol

At the same time, a dozen relief city plans were also published, not to mention the various editions:

• Paris
• New-York
• Frankfort am Main
• Vienne
• Versailles
• Hamburg
• Londres
• Basel
• Saint Petersbourg
• Darmstadt
• Firenze
• Rome