The bird's-eye view map was originally published in a supplement to The Illustrated Sydney News on June 27, 1889.

Now part of the library's special collections, the Alfred Scott Broad artwork is considered to be a rare print.

As it portrays the city from above the Obelisk, University of Newcastle archivist Gionni Di Gravio originally thought the artist must have travelled in a hot air balloon.

But Richard Neville, the Mitchell librarian at the State Library of NSW, told him such images were created by artists going into the streets to examine building facades.

"They'd create these stylised images that were highly detailed. We wondered how they'd get the details so well. Some were done from photographs as well. They're just amazing images," Mr Di Gravio said.

He had previously found an old microfilm image of the artwork, but its quality was poor. As such, he was "over the moon" when the library acquired the lithograph through an auction catalogue that deals with rare prints.

The cost was "pretty substantial", given its rarity.

If such images do survive, they're usually damaged.

"This one was perfect. It's so rare to find these original works in such good nick, especially if they're in paper form," he said.

Asked about landmarks in the image, he said: "The Victoria Theatre is one of them".

"The Obelisk is the obvious one that's still there today. Parts of the James Fletcher Hospital site are also there," he said.

He added that the image contained many features of the Newcastle landscape that would interest people for different reasons.

"Some might be interested in the port, rail and theatrical history. It would be good to get a drone operator to do a 'then and now'."

Mr Di Gravio has published the image on the Hunter Living Histories website.

He uploads such images on the blog "in the highest resolution I can".

"With something like this, you need to access it in high-res to see the detail," he said.

Having such an image in high resolution was "just a joy", particularly when married to technology such as the City of Newcastle's digital story wall.

"That's when you really start to understand how great it is to have these things in high-res," he said.

"For me, it's a real joy to have the tools to bring this to the people of the region in dazzling and spectacular colour."

The Illustrated Sydney News was a colonial newspaper that published news and features on the progress of NSW's towns and cities in the 19th century.

The story that accompanied the lithograph said Newcastle was then "a prosperous city of 25,000 people".

"The prosperity of Newcastle is indeed founded on a rock - the best kind of rock - a rock with a black seam in it.

"So long as the age of steam lasts, Newcastle will be in the front of the colony's reputation."