Born in Düsseldorf, Germany, Augustus Köllner immigrated to the United States and settled in Philadelphia by 1839. Having studied painting and lithography in Frankfurt, Köllner soon had a job working for Huddy and Duval’s U.S. Military Magazine. In the 1840s he worked on a series of watercolors of American scenes, fifty-four of which were published in 1848-51 by the Paris firm Goupil, Vibert & Co., as Views of American Cities. During this time, Köllner also did work for other lithographic firms in Philadelphia, including J. T. Bowen, Frederick Kuhl, Thomas Sinclair, Wagner & McGuigan, and Brechemin & Camp, until he went into business on his own as a printer and lithographer. Köllner exhibited drawings at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia in 1865 and 1868. There was an exhibition of his work at the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1947.