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The Copernican globe: A delayed conception

Elly Dekker Faculty of Geographical Sciences/Cartography, University of Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 2, NL-3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Pages 541-566 | Received 29 Apr 1996, Published online: 18 Sep 2006

  • The first printed manual on the use of globes is that published by Schöner Johann Luculentissima quaedam terrae totius descriptio: cum multis utilissimis Cosmographiae iniciis … Nuremberg 1515 A treatise on the celestial globe followed a few years later: Solidi ac sphaerici corperis sive Globi Astronomici canones usum … (Nuremberg, 1517), with Appendices, which was published in 1518, also in Nuremberg. It is impossible to list all subsequent manuals here. Peter van der Krogt, Globi Neerlandici: The Production of Globes in the Low Countries (Utrecht, 1993), 626–6, gives a list of 33 editions of books on the use of globes, which were published in The Netherlands between 1585 and 1650.
  • See, for instance, the manual on globes by Moxon Joseph A Tutor to Astronomy and Geography. Or an easie and speedy way to know the USE of both the GLOBES, Cœlestial and Terrestrial…. The Third Edition Corrected and Enlarged London 1674 I used the facsimile edition published in New York (1968).
  • King , Henry C. 1978 . Geared to the Stars: The Evolution of Planetariums, Orreries, and Astronomical Clocks Toronto in collaboration with John R. Millburn,
  • Frisius , Gemma . 1530 . De Principiis Astronomiœ & Consmographiœ. Deque vsu Globi ab eodem editi. Item de Orbis divisione, & Insulis, rebusque nuper inuentis Antwerp The title page of the manual by Johann Schöner of 1515 (note 1) also shows a picture of a globe, but there the hour circle, one of the important accessories of the common globe, is lacking.
  • For the picture and the firm Ernst Schotte, see Dorflinger Johannes Verlagsanzeigen als Quellen zur Geschichte der Globen Der Globusfreund 1986 33/4 81 98 and figure 21.
  • Private communication , London : Trevor Philip & Sons Ltd . by
  • Evidence for the impact of Ptolemy's Geography on early globe making is presented by Durand Dana Bennett The Vienna-Kloster Neuburg Map Corpus of the Fifteenth Century: A Study in the Transition from Medieval to Modern Science Leiden 1952 164 167 Records of early, no longer extant terrestrial globes, also induced by Ptolemy's Geography, are discussed by Jacques Paviot, ‘Ung Mapmonde rond, en guise de Pom(m)e: Ein Erdglobus von 1440–44, hergestellt für Philipp den Guten, Herzog von Burgund’, Der Globusfreund, 43/4 (1995), 19–30; and Józef Babicz, ‘The celestial and terrestrial globes of the Vatican Library, dating from 1477, and their maker Donnus Nicolaus Germanus (ca. 1420–ca. 1490)’, Der Globusfreund, 35/7 (1987), 155–68. See also Klaus A. Vogel, ‘Armillarsphäre und frühe Globen vor 1492’, Der Globusfreund, 43/4 (1995), 31–42.
  • The best known and most often recorded example is the terrestrial globe depicted in the painting The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger of 1533, in the National Gallery, London. See, for instance, Dekker Elly van der Krogt Peter Globes from the Western World London 1993 24 24 figures 8, 9. Very few of the surviving early terrestrial globes have their original stand, but all existing examples of static globes such as that seen in The Ambassadors are facsimiles, made in the nineteenth century or later.
  • Schewe , Roland . 1993 . “ Das Gestell des Behaim-Globus ” . In Focus Behaim Globus Edited by: Bott , G. Vol. I , 279 – 288 . Nuremberg 2 vols in particular 283: ‘Der ring ist genent orisont vnd zeigt das auf vnd absteigen der sonnen vnd der zwelf zeichen’. The horizon ring was added to the globe in 1510. The precise historical background of the use of the horizon ring in the common terrestrial globe is still uncertain. In the construction of celestial globes horizon rings were common from antiquity. This could easily have been transferred to the construction of terrestrial globes but in doing so the conceptual distinction between the fixed Earth and a mobile sky had to be overcome. The first mention of a terrestrial globe with a ‘horizont’ is by Germanicus in 1477 (see Vogel, note 7, 36) but since these globes have not survived, it is uncertain whether a real horizon ring is meant.
  • In the literature on dials it is generally ignored that many manuals on globes have a chapter on dialling. This is not surprising because it has not been recognized generally that the common terrestrial globe actually is a model for the daily motion of the Sun. In the treatise on globes by Moxon A Tutor to Astronomy and Geography. Or an easie and speedy way to know the USE of both the GLOBES, Cœlestial and Terrestrial…. The Third Edition Corrected and Enlarged London 1674 136 181 the gnonomic problems are discussed at length.
  • The indication of the ecliptic on the terrestrial globe is not so strange as it appeared to some globe makers at the end of the eighteenth century. In a Ptolemaic context, all circles on the terrestrial globe are ‘celestial’ in origin. The tropics and the equinoctial line are defined by the daily motion of the Sun, when it is located at the equinoctial and solstitial points. The Behaim globe of 1492 already has the ecliptic drawn in; see the reproduction of the map of the Behaim globe in Bott Das Gestell des Behaim-Globus Focus Behaim Globus Bott G. Nuremberg 1993 I 259 271 2 vols
  • The graphical way of finding the place of the Sun in the zodiac during the year is a feature that for centuries had been presented at the back of astrolabes, but it is not known when this was first drawn on the horizon ring of terrestrial globes. It is included on the horizon ring of the celestial globe by Johann Stöffler of 1493; see my description in Bott Das Gestell des Behaim-Globus Focus Behaim Globus Bott G. Nuremberg 1993 II 516 518 2 vols no. 1.16
  • Harris , Joseph . 1738 . The Description and Use of the Globes and the Orrery , 3rd edn 96 – 97 . London
  • Harris , Joseph . 1738 . The Description and Use of the Globes and the Orrery , 3rd edn 96 – 97 . London
  • Adams , George . 1794 . Lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy, considered in its present state of Improvement. Describing, in a familiar and easy Manner, the Principal Phenomena of Nature; and shewing, that they all co-operate in displaying the Goodness, Wisdom, and Power of God Vol. IV , 197 – 197 . London 4 vols
  • The globe was advertized in a prospectus, The English Globe invented by R. Palmer, Earl of Castlemaine (n.d.), folio, single sheet printed one side. A copy is preserved in the Bodleian Library (Bodl. Ashmole 1733). A complete description is given in Joseph Moxon, The English Globe, Being a Stabil and Immobil one performing what the ordinary Globes do, and much more. Invented and described by the Right Honorable the Earl of Castlemaine (London, 1679). Two copies of the English Globe have survived, one in Winchester Cathedral Library, another in the University Library Cambridge. The background of the English Globe is discussed by Helen Wallis, ‘Geography is better than Divinitie: maps, globes, and geography in the days of Samuel Pepys’, in The Compleat Plattmaker, edited by N. J. W. Thrower (London, 1978), 1–43.
  • Dekker and van der Krogt . 1993 . Globes from the Western World 111 – 112 . London
  • Moxon . 1674 . A Tutor to Astronomy and Geography. Or an easie and speedy way to know the USE of both the GLOBES, Cœlestial and Terrestrial…. The Third Edition Corrected and Enlarged 12 – 13 . London
  • Prospectus . The English Globe invented by R. Palmer, Earl of Castlemaine
  • The use of the globe for time measurement in this particular way is described in Bion N. The Construction and Principal Uses of Mathematical Instruments , 2nd edn London 1723 translated from the French by Edmund Stone 1758 In both editions the globe is discussed on pp. 238–9. On p. 239 it is said: ‘Note. This dial is the most natural of others, because it resembles the Earth itself, and the sun shines thereon as he does on the Earth’. I used the facsimile of the second edition, published in New Jersey (1995).
  • One of the two surviving copies of the English Globe was examined by Baynes-Copes A.D. The study and conservation of Globes Der Globusfreund 1986 33/4 1 80 especially figures 6, 12. Baynes-Copes presented the English Globe to show the damaging effects of exposure to sunlight. He could not have chosen a better example.
  • Moxon . The English Globe invented by R. Palmer, Earl of Castlemaine 41 – 41 . The instruction consisted of the advice to have an instrument maker produce an adjustable brass circle divided like the horizon.
  • King . 1978 . Geared to the Stars: The Evolution of Planetariums, Orreries, and Astronomical Clocks 93 – 93 . Toronto
  • For the most recent information on Blaeu as a globe maker, see van der Krogt Luculentissima quaedam terrae totius descriptio: cum multis utilissimis Cosmographiae iniciis … Nuremberg 1515 chapters 4, 5. Blaeu's instrument is described in detail in King (note 3), 94. Five copies of this instrument have been recorded, but one of these was recently lost. The copy shown in Figure 4 is in the Rijksmuseum ‘Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum’; see Marijke Donkersloot-de Vrij, Drie Generaties Blaeu: Amsterdamse Cartografie en boekdrukkunst in de zeventiende eeuw (Zutphen, 1992), 54, and figure 6.5. Another copy is shown in Ludolf von Mackensen, Die erste Sternwarte Europas mit ihren Instrumenten und Uhren: 400 Jahre Jost Bürgi in Kassel (Munich, 1979; 3rd edn 1988), 99.
  • Harris . 1738 . The Description and Use of the Globes and the Orrery , 3rd edn 38 – 38 . London
  • George , Adams Sr . 1766 . A Treatise Describing and Explaining the Construction and Use of New Celestial and Terrestrial Globes London
  • Adams , George . 1789 . Astronomical and Geographical Essays. Containing I. A Comprehensive View of the General Principles of Astronomy; II. The use of the celestial and terrestrial globes, … III. The Description and Use of the Armillary sphere, Planetarium, Tellurian, and Lunarium. IV. An Introduction to Practical Astronomy; or, the Use of the Quadrant and Equatorial London
  • Adams , George . A Catalogue of Instruments (bound in)
  • See, for instance, van der Krogt Peter Old Globes in the Netherlands: A Catalogue of Terrestrial and Celestial Globes Made Prior to 1850 and Preserved in Dutch Collections Utrecht 1984 35 37 Van der Krogt lists as part of the normal circles: the meridian ring, the horizon ring, and an hour circle mounted between the meridian and sphere. This latter English type of hour circle is not part of the original design of Adams. It was applied, however, on some of the later globes made by the Adams family. Among the parts designed by Adams, a quadrant of altitude is listed which is, in fact, one of the normal circles of globes, whereas the hour scale engraved on the globe gores (to be used with the semicircle with movable hour indexes) is not mentioned.
  • Adams . 1789 . Astronomical and Geographical Essays. Containing I. A Comprehensive View of the General Principles of Astronomy; II. The use of the celestial and terrestrial globes, … III. The Description and Use of the Armillary sphere, Planetarium, Tellurian, and Lunarium. IV. An Introduction to Practical Astronomy; or, the Use of the Quadrant and Equatorial 525 – 525 . London The relevant text in Adams Sr (note 26), 36, is: ‘We have contrived our new globes so that the real motion of the earth and the apparent diurnal motion of the heavens are presented by them’.
  • Adams . 1789 . Astronomical and Geographical Essays. Containing I. A Comprehensive View of the General Principles of Astronomy; II. The use of the celestial and terrestrial globes, … III. The Description and Use of the Armillary sphere, Planetarium, Tellurian, and Lunarium. IV. An Introduction to Practical Astronomy; or, the Use of the Quadrant and Equatorial 244 – 245 . London The principle is explained by Adams Sr (note 26), 3: ‘In the use of the terrestrial globe, we are to consider ourselves standing upon some part of its surface and that its motion represents the real diurnal motion of the earth, which is from west to east’.
  • In the manual by Adams Sr A Treatise Describing and Explaining the Construction and Use of New Celestial and Terrestrial Globes London 1766 this is explained on p. 11: ‘The graduated side of the strong brass circle encompassing our new terrestrial globe, faces west’.
  • Moxon . 1674 . A Tutor to Astronomy and Geography. Or an easie and speedy way to know the USE of both the GLOBES, Cœlestial and Terrestrial…. The Third Edition Corrected and Enlarged 37 – 37 . London
  • The very fine pair of globes by George Adams Sr, presented to King George III, is preserved in the Science Museum, London: Morton Alan Q. Wess Jane A. Public & Private Science: The King George III Collection Oxford 1993 22 25 (Catalogue nos E38 and 39), 410–13. The pictures of the terrestrial and celestial globes on pp. 24 and 25 show clearly that the graduated side of the meridian ring of the terrestrial globe faces westwards (October) and that it faces eastwards (March) in the celestial globe.
  • Adams . 1789 . Astronomical and Geographical Essays. Containing I. A Comprehensive View of the General Principles of Astronomy; II. The use of the celestial and terrestrial globes, … III. The Description and Use of the Armillary sphere, Planetarium, Tellurian, and Lunarium. IV. An Introduction to Practical Astronomy; or, the Use of the Quadrant and Equatorial 261 – 261 . London In the original treatise of Adams Sr (note 26) these scales are discussed on pp. 15–16.
  • Adams . 1789 . Astronomical and Geographical Essays. Containing I. A Comprehensive View of the General Principles of Astronomy; II. The use of the celestial and terrestrial globes, … III. The Description and Use of the Armillary sphere, Planetarium, Tellurian, and Lunarium. IV. An Introduction to Practical Astronomy; or, the Use of the Quadrant and Equatorial 352 – 352 . London see also Adams Sr (note 26), 229.
  • Adams . 1789 . Astronomical and Geographical Essays. Containing I. A Comprehensive View of the General Principles of Astronomy; II. The use of the celestial and terrestrial globes, … III. The Description and Use of the Armillary sphere, Planetarium, Tellurian, and Lunarium. IV. An Introduction to Practical Astronomy; or, the Use of the Quadrant and Equatorial 352 – 352 . London For instance, Adams added an hour scale along the arctic circle of his terrestrial globes, in the same way as this is done on the English Globe (compare Figure 3).
  • Turner , Gerard L'E. Van Marum's Scientific Instruments in Teyler's Museum 199 – 199 . catalogue no. 92 Part II of Martinus van Marum: Life and Work, edited by E. Lefebvre and J. G. de Bruijn, iv (Leiden, 1973)
  • Adams . 1794 . Lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy, considered in its present state of Improvement. Describing, in a familiar and easy Manner, the Principal Phenomena of Nature; and shewing, that they all co-operate in displaying the Goodness, Wisdom, and Power of God Vol. IV , 198 – 198 . London 4 vols The information is given in a footnote. A drawing of the globes is in IV, plt. XIII.
  • Turner . Van Marum's Scientific Instruments in Teyler's Museum 201 – 203 . catalogue no. 92 All these demonstration models are described by Adams Jr in his Essays of 1789; see note 27.
  • van Marum , Martinus . Notes on a voyage to London in 1790 Edited by: Lefebvre , E. and de Bruijn , J.G. Vol. VI , 224 – 225 . (note 40) The new terrestrial globe is first mentioned in a ‘price list’ prepared for van Marum. Turner (note 40), 199, dates this list 8 December 1789, but the list itself is not dated. There is a letter, dated 8 December 1789, in which demonstration models are discussed in more general terms, but a new globe is not mentioned therein. It is my feeling that the explanation offered by Millburn in his forthcoming monograph (note 32) is the most plausible, which is that the price list was made during van Marum's visit to London in July.
  • Turner . Van Marum's Scientific Instruments in Teyler's Museum 200 – 200 . catalogue no. 92
  • Turner , Gerard L'E. A Very Scientific Century Edited by: Lefebvre , E. and de Bruijn , J.G. Vol. IV , 28 – 29 . Reprinted in Turner's Scientific Instruments and Experimental Philosophy 1550–1850 (Aldershot, 1990), chapter XIV. The hollow axis was needed in order to attach the floatable horizon ring to the globe, a feature not required in the construction of the common globe.
  • Turner , Gerard L'E. A Very Scientific Century Edited by: Lefebvre , E. and de Bruijn , J.G. Vol. XIV , 29 – 29 . On 16 March 1792 the celestial globe was dispatched. Included in the accompanying letter is an instruction on the use of this globe, which is in outline the same as that published by Adams Jr (note 15), 202. This celestial globe also has a ‘Copernican’ mounting; see Turner (note 40), 198. In a Copernican world system the celestial sphere is immobile, but a static model is not suitable for explaining the rising and the setting of the stars, caused by the rotation of the Earth. In order to make the celestial sphere as nearly as possible conform to nature, that is with respect to the true orientation of the Earth, Adams Jr gave the celestial globe the same mounting as the terrestrial globe.
  • Message in Algemene Konst- en Letterbode January 1792 VIII 186 20 Haerlem, den 18 January. Laatstleden Zaturdag toonde Dr. van Marum aan het gewoon Gezelschap bij Teylers Fundatie, de ongemeen fraaye en prachtige Aardglobe, kortlings door deze Stichting uit Londen ontvangen, en verklaarde den aanwezenden, de byzondere inrichting en het gebruik van dit Werktuig. Dezelve is van ene geheel nieuwe en verbeterde zamenstelling, volgens een model, hetgeen de Doctor, in den Zomer des jaars 1790, te Londen zijn de, by den Heer Adams zag, en is de eerste, welke, door dezen konstenaar, op die wyze is vervaardigd. In dit Konststuk is het gebruik van de gewone Aardglobe met dat van het Tellurium verenigd, en hetselve kan dus als een tweevoudig Werktuig beschouwd worden. In the same note a complete description of the new globe is promised, which appeared in the February issue of the journal; see Martinus van Marum, ‘Beschryving ener nieuwe en fraaye Aardglobe, door den Hr. Adams, to Londen, vervaardigd, en thans in het Museum van Teylers Fundatie geplaatst’, Algemene Konst- en Letterbode, VIII, no. 188 (3 February 1792), 34–6.
  • Turner . Van Marum's Scientific Instruments in Teyler's Museum 200 – 200 . catalogue no. 92
  • Keith , Thomas . 1811 . A New Treatise on the Use of Globes: Or a Philosophical View of the Earth and Heavens , 3rd edn 234 – 234 . London The note concerned is added to the following problem: ‘What is the sun's altitude at Madrid on the 24th of August, at 11 o'clock in the morning?’, and the full text is: This example is taken from a prospectus announcing the publication of New Globes, to be executed by Mr Dudley Adams, and called the Newtonian Globes, wherein the author has treated the common globes with uncommon severity; he has however been rather unfortunate in the choice of his examples, which are designed to shew ‘the absurdities and ridiculous inconsistencies of the common globes’. He says ‘By working this problem on the common globes, we find, with the greatest astonishment, that Madrid, where it is understood to be eleven o'clock in the morning, is at that time in the dark, under the horizon; and consequently we hardly conceive how the inhabitants can see the sun take its altitude, and calculate the time to be eleven o'clock’. Ex uno disce Omnes.
  • Keith , Thomas . 1811 . A New Treatise on the Use of Globes: Or a Philosophical View of the Earth and Heavens , 3rd edn 234 – 234 . London
  • Adams . 1794 . Lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy, considered in its present state of Improvement. Describing, in a familiar and easy Manner, the Principal Phenomena of Nature; and shewing, that they all co-operate in displaying the Goodness, Wisdom, and Power of God Vol. IV , 198 – 198 . London 4 vols
  • The history of the Valk Factory is described in detail by van der Krogt Globi Neerlandici: The Production of Globes in the Low Countries Utrecht 1993 626 666 chapter 9
  • Covens , Cornelis . 1802 . Handleiding tot de Kennis en het Gebruik der HEMEL- EN AARDGLOBEN, bevattende tevens de beschrijving van de constructie, en het gebruik van eene geheel nieuwe AARD-GLOBE, welke in zich het gebruik der HEMEL- en AARD-GLOBEN vereenigt Amsterdam
  • Covens . 1802 . Handleiding tot de Kennis en het Gebruik der HEMEL- EN AARDGLOBEN, bevattende tevens de beschrijving van de constructie, en het gebruik van eene geheel nieuwe AARD-GLOBE, welke in zich het gebruik der HEMEL- en AARD-GLOBEN vereenigt vi – vi . Amsterdam Na het verbeteren der Globe zelve kwam nu ook derzelver Constructie in aanmerking; natuurlijker wyze moesten wij aan die van ADAMS de voorkeur geeven: de algemeene byval, welken dezelve gevonden heeft, het gemak en voordeel, 't welk dezelve boven de oude heeft, was ons hieromtrent ter verzekering dat ook dit de goedkeuring van het algemeen zou weg dragen; dan, voldoet deze Constructie in alles aan het oogmerk waartoe men de Globen behoort te gebruiken? was eene vraag, welke wy onszelven doende, bevonden dat hieromtrent nog wel iets anders te wenschen overbleef.
  • Covens . 1802 . Handleiding tot de Kennis en het Gebruik der HEMEL- EN AARDGLOBEN, bevattende tevens de beschrijving van de constructie, en het gebruik van eene geheel nieuwe AARD-GLOBE, welke in zich het gebruik der HEMEL- en AARD-GLOBEN vereenigt 319 – 319 . Amsterdam ‘met de oude Constructie, daarmede voornamelyk bedoelende, de Constructie der Aard-globe volgens den Hr. Adams’ (with the old Construction, by which meaning the Construction of the Terrestrial globe of Mr Adams). For Covens' objections to the common Ptolemaic globe, see pp. 144–51, which are essentially the same as those given by Adams (note 15), 198–9.
  • Covens . 1802 . Handleiding tot de Kennis en het Gebruik der HEMEL- EN AARDGLOBEN, bevattende tevens de beschrijving van de constructie, en het gebruik van eene geheel nieuwe AARD-GLOBE, welke in zich het gebruik der HEMEL- en AARD-GLOBEN vereenigt 150 – 150 . Amsterdam 't is waar, de Heer ADAMS gebruikt ook den Horison van zyne Aard-globe wel eens voor de Ecliptica, doch in dat geval mist men dan geheel den Horison, en veroorzaakt door deze verwisseling wellicht verwarring voor den leerling; gebruikt men de Horison voor den Cirkel, welke het verlichte en onverlichte gedeelte van de Aarde afscheid, gelyk de Heer ADAMS mede in sommige gevallen doet, dan mist men en Ecliptica en Horison, en men verliest dus daardoor de gelegenheid om de betrekkingen te verklaaren, welken deze Cirkels geduurig tot elkander hebben, terwyl men ook nimmer in staat is, het naauwe verband tussen Sterre- en Aardrykskunde zoo duidelijk aantetonen, als wanneer men en Ecliptica en Horison en Equator geduurig voor zich ziet.
  • See the drawing published by van der Krogt Globi Neerlandici: The Production of Globes in the Low Countries Utrecht 1993 333 333 figure 9.23. The inclusion of the circle of illumination may reflect its prominence in the method of Adams Sr to rectify the globe for the solar declination. It could easily have been borrowed from the van Marum globe (Figure 6), a description of which was published by van Marum in 1792 (note 47).
  • Covens . 1802 . Handleiding tot de Kennis en het Gebruik der HEMEL- EN AARDGLOBEN, bevattende tevens de beschrijving van de constructie, en het gebruik van eene geheel nieuwe AARD-GLOBE, welke in zich het gebruik der HEMEL- en AARD-GLOBEN vereenigt 198 – 203 . Amsterdam also describes a new design of an armillary sphere, which he derives from the construction of his new terrestrial globe. The celestial sphere has the same orientation as that on his Copernican globe (but the polar circles and tropics have been added) and the system of the Earth now consists of a small globe with a horizon disc attached to it. As a result, Covens' new armillary sphere is similar to the one depicted by Adams (note 15), IV, plt. XIII, figure 1, in which the celestial sphere is fixed and the Earth can rotate. Both spheres are enlarged copies of that in Blaeu's tellurium. A copy of Covens' new armillary sphere is depicted by van der Krogt (note 29), 222, val 1.
  • Covens . 1802 . Handleiding tot de Kennis en het Gebruik der HEMEL- EN AARDGLOBEN, bevattende tevens de beschrijving van de constructie, en het gebruik van eene geheel nieuwe AARD-GLOBE, welke in zich het gebruik der HEMEL- en AARD-GLOBEN vereenigt 233 – 235 . Amsterdam 330–1
  • Only one copy of the Copernican globe by Adams Jr is known; it is in Teyler's Museum, Haarlem. A number of copies of Covens' Copernican globes can be identified in the descriptions provided by van der Krogt Old Globes in the Netherlands: A Catalogue of Terrestrial and Celestial Globes Made Prior to 1850 and Preserved in Dutch Collections Utrecht 1984 236 237 val 34 (incomplete), 35, 36. A Copernican terrestrial globe in a mounting of the same design as that of Covens was produced in 1868 by the London firm Malby & Co. This globe is described in A Catalogue of Globes published by Trevor Philip & Son Ltd, London (n.d.). See also Dekker and van der Krogt (note 8), 116–17, figure 58. The so-called Fitz globe of 1875, designed by Ellen Eliza Fitz, an American governess from New Brunswick, is reminiscent of the design of Adams Jr; Ellen E. Fitz, Handbook of the Terrestrial Globe; Or Guide to Fitz's New Method of Mounting and Operating Globes (Boston, 1876). Other editions followed in 1878, 1880, and 1884. See also Deborah Warner, ‘The Geography of Heaven and Earth, Part 2’, Rittenhouse, Journal of the American Scientific Instrument Enterprise, 2 (1988), 52–64, especially 62. After Warner's publication a copy of a Fitz globe came to light, a picture of which is in Dekker and van der Krogt (note 8), 128–9, figure 61. An example of a terrestrial globe with a floatable horizon by Newton & Son, 66 Chancery Lane, London, is depicted in van der Krogt (note 29), 206, new 2.
  • Millburn , John R. 1976 . Benjamin Martin: Author, Instrument-maker, and ‘Country Showman’ 103 – 103 . Leiden Martin had taken over the copper plates from James Ferguson, who had in turn bought these plates from the widow of John Senex. See John R. Millburn (in collaboration with Henry C. King), Wheelwright of the Heavens: The Life & Work of James Ferguson, FRS (London, 1988), 82–8.
  • Martin , Benjamin . 1766 . An Appendix to the Description and Use of the Globes, Containing, I. Animadversions upon…a Set of New Globes… London I am indebted to John R. Millburn for providing me with a copy of this treatise. See also the discussion presented in Millburn, 1976 (note 62), 138–40.
  • Martin . 1766 . An Appendix to the Description and Use of the Globes, Containing, I. Animadversions upon…a Set of New Globes… 8 – 8 . London
  • Martin . 1766 . An Appendix to the Description and Use of the Globes, Containing, I. Animadversions upon…a Set of New Globes… 8 – 8 . London
  • Adams . 1789 . Astronomical and Geographical Essays. Containing I. A Comprehensive View of the General Principles of Astronomy; II. The use of the celestial and terrestrial globes, … III. The Description and Use of the Armillary sphere, Planetarium, Tellurian, and Lunarium. IV. An Introduction to Practical Astronomy; or, the Use of the Quadrant and Equatorial 244 – 244 . London The background of the reference to the University of Leiden is discussed in detail by John R. Millburn in his forthcoming monograph on the Adams family.
  • Adams , George . 1803 . Astronomical and Geographical Essays , 5th edn London corrected and enlarged by Williams Jones note on 192.
  • A paper analemma is pasted on the 12-inch terrestrial globe by Benjamin Martin of about 1770, preserved in the National Maritime Museum, GLB0079. Later globes have the analemma engraved directly onto the globe gores. According to Martin An Appendix to the Description and Use of the Globes, Containing, I. Animadversions upon…a Set of New Globes… London 1766 16 16 the brass analemma upon the meridian ring was invented by Joseph Harris about 30 years earlier, and it was Harris, too, who suggested having it engraved on the globe gores.
  • For James Harris, see Nicholson William The British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences London 1809 III s.v. Globes. I am indebted to Sylvia Sumira for bringing this source to my attention. I know only one example of an early mounting, attributed to Thomas Wright and dated c. 1740, with an English type of hour circle (used for mounting a globe, published by John Senex in 1728; private communication, Trevor Philip & Sons). All other examples that I know date from about 1800 or later. Apparently the invention by James Harris was not known to Adams Sr, or other globe makers at that time. An example of a globe by Wright and Bardin with a printed hour scale around the north pole and a pointer is the 9-inch terrestrial globe published in 1782, preserved in the National Maritime Museum, GLB0093. The 18-inch celestial globe in the National Maritime Museum, GLB0166, made by the Bardin firm around 1800, is a transition piece. It has a printed hour scale around the north pole as well as an English-type brass hour scale mounted between the sphere and the meridian ring.
  • For the reception by the Dutch of globes by Adams Sr, see van der Krogt Globi Neerlandici: The Production of Globes in the Low Countries Utrecht 1993 330 330 It is worth noting that in one copy of the second edition of George Adams, Astronomical and Geographical Essays (1790), that I consulted, all the parts relevant for the ‘Copernican’ problem are underlined and provided with exclamation marks. This copy, preserved in the Library of the University of Utrecht, had been the property of Gerrit Moll (1785–1838), Professor of Astronomy at Utrecht.
  • Covens . 1802 . Handleiding tot de Kennis en het Gebruik der HEMEL- EN AARDGLOBEN, bevattende tevens de beschrijving van de constructie, en het gebruik van eene geheel nieuwe AARD-GLOBE, welke in zich het gebruik der HEMEL- en AARD-GLOBEN vereenigt Amsterdam ‘Introduction’. For the role of learned societies in Holland, see R. Hooykaas, ‘De Natuurwetenschap in de eeuw der genootschappen’, in Natuurwetenschappen van Renaissance tot Darwin, edited by H. A. M. Snelders and K. van Berkel (The Hague, 1981), 131–67. The first years of Felix Meritis are described in H. Reitsma, ‘De beginjaren van Felix Meritis, 1777–1795’, Documentatieblad Werkgroep Achttiende Eeuw, XV/2 [59–60] (1983), 101–39.
  • In a lecture, published by van Swinden J.H. Lessen over het Planetarium, Tellurium, en Lunarium van Hartog van Laun; gehouden in de Maatschappy Felix Meritis, te Amsterdam Amsterdam 1803 58 58 91, the terrestrial globe by Covens is recommended, and use of the common Ptolemaic globe is criticized. For the influential role of van Swinden in Felix Meritis, see H. Snelders, ‘Het departement Natuurkunde van de Maatschappij van Verdiensten Felix Meritis in het eerste kwart van zijn bestaan’, Documentatieblad Werkgroep Achttiende Eeuw, XV/2 [59–60] (1983), 197–211.
  • Van der Krogt . 1993 . Globi Neerlandici: The Production of Globes in the Low Countries 358 – 358 . Utrecht
  • de Gelder , Jacob . 1819 . Algemeene Sterre- en Natuurkundige Aardrijksbeschrijving …: Alles opgehelderd door de beschrijving en het gebruik der kunstige Aard- en Hemelglobe en het Tellurium 246 – 246 . The Hague, Amsterdam, and Breda zal men echter, bij vergelijking van de oplossing van dezelfde vraagstukken op de oude and nieuwe globe, moeten toestemmen, dat deeze oplossingen op de gewoone Aard-globe meestal, als een natuurlijk gevolg van de onnatuurlijke toestelling, moeijelijk, gedwongen en onëigenaartig zijn, terwijl zij de waare begrippen der zaaken, in plaats van dezelve op to helderen, verdonkeren; waarlijk een zeer gewigtige drangreden, om vooral in het onderwijs, van geenen anderen toestel, dan die van Covens, gebruik te maaken.
  • An overview of globe making in the Western world from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries is in Dekker van der Krogt Globes from the Western World London 1993 24 24
  • Geelhoed , Diederik . 1818 . Onderwijs in de behandeling der Aard-globe iv – iv . Leyden The same argument is repeated in a treatise on the celestial globe by the same author: Onderwijs in de behandeling der Hemelglobe, kunnende strekken tot een eerste leerboek in de Sterrenkunde (Dordrecht, 1826).
  • In Keith A New Treatise on the Use of Globes: Or a Philosophical View of the Earth and Heavens , 3rd edn London 1811 234 234 and, for example, in the description of the use of globes in James Ryan, The New American Grammar of the Elements of Astronomy on an Improved Plan (New York, 1835), the method of rectifying the globe for the solar declination, introduced by George Adams Sr, is applied, but Adams is not acknowledged.
  • Keith . 1811 . A New Treatise on the Use of Globes: Or a Philosophical View of the Earth and Heavens , 3rd edn 214 – 214 . London in a footnote to a problem.
  • Keith . 1811 . A New Treatise on the Use of Globes: Or a Philosophical View of the Earth and Heavens , 3rd edn 214 – 214 . London in a footnote to the Preface, v.
  • Keith . 1811 . A New Treatise on the Use of Globes: Or a Philosophical View of the Earth and Heavens , 3rd edn 214 – 214 . London
  • Dekker , Elly . 1990 . “ From a World Ruling Time to a Time-Ruled World ” . In Time Edited by: Turner , A.J. 24 – 32 . The Hague

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