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Handsome Pair of Large, 18th Century, English Globes
Terrestrial & Celestial Globe Pair.
ADAMS, Dudley & George [London, 1793]
Terrestrial: Britanniarum Regi Augustissimo Georgio Tertio… Globii in hunc Terrestrem, Omnes hactenus exploratos terrarum tractas,…Made by D. Adams…Charing Cross, London. 1793. .
Celestial: Britanniarum Regi Augustissimo Georgio Tertio…Globum hunc Caelestem, …Londini apud G. Adams, artificem Regium in vico Fleet Street [Undated].
Each 18 inches (46 cm.) diameter & 33 inches (84 cm.) total height; mounted on three-legged wooden stands with compasses in bases, each with finely engraved directional cards; original, movable brass meridians, each fitted with equator wires to assist in rotating meridians; horizon ring, resting on four wooden arms connected to base, paper-covered with finely engraved symbols of zodiacal constellations and various statistics for time calculations; celestial globe with movable brass declination circle, on which is brass symbol of the sun; global maps each consist of 24 original-colored gores and 2 polar calottes; dark speckling, occasionally heavy on terrestrial globe (none on celestial), yet virtually all place names legible; mended cracked area in lower Atlantic Ocean area on terrestrial about 4 x 5 inches with minor losses here and in few, other areas on both terrestrial and celestial, still overall very good.
A pair of large, classic English table globes, with compasses in the bases of each. The Adams firm was one of the oldest and most important English companies specializing in globes and scientific instruments. “George Adams, the elder (fl. 1760), maker of mathematical instruments and optician to His Majesty George II of England [to whom both of these globes were dedicated], won great distinction for himself as a maker of terrestrial and celestial globes…(Stevenson). Adams supplied Capt. James Cook with instruments to observe the transit of Venus in 1769 in the southern part of the Pacific. Adams had also “designed a new mounting for globes, whereby the globe could be used more for demonstration purposes” (Dekker/ Van der Krogt). For example, in the case with both globes of this pair, in addition to rotating on their axes, the globes also rotate along their meridians; this latter rotation is assisted by ingeniously designed equator wires fastened to the meridians and horizon rings. Adams’ interest in, and knowledge of, the craft and use of globes were reflected in his highly successful manual published in 1766, A Treatise Describing and Explaining the Construction and Use of New Celestial and Terrestrial Globes; it would appear in numerous through the early 19th century.
The Adams firm was founded in 1738 by George Senior and carried on by his sons George (1750-1795) and Dudley (1762-1830), who published the editions of the globes offered here. After 1788, however, Dudley Adams operated independently but continued to re-issue his father’s globes. In fact, the terrestrial globe of the pair has Dudley Adams’ name in the imprint, while the celestial has that of George. This may account for the slight differences in the designs of the stands of the two globes.
The terrestrial globe provides the tracks of all three of Cook’s voyages in excellent detail as well as those of Furneaux and Anson. Adams’ globes were most likely the first to trace all of Cook’s voyages; doing so became de rigueur for English globes long into the 19th century. Because of the presence of the Cook discoveries, the most advanced and interesting mapping on the globe is of Australia and New Zealand. On the other hand, the globe reminds us that even after Cook there were still large parts of the earth whose geography was quite uncertain, namely most of the western United States and northwest North America; New Guinea, which is curiously divided into two islands; the interior of Africa; and the polar regions. Adams also seems to have pointedly ignored Bering’s northern Pacific explorations, leaving that area fully traversed with Cook’s tracks, perhaps implying the priority of English discovery there. Navigational information such as prevailing winds and currents is also provided on the globe.
The constellations on the celestial globe are delicately engraved in the style of Bayer, though based on those catalogued by John Flamsteed, the Royal Astronomer at Greenwich Observatory. These were updated by Abbe’ Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille’s 1756 catalogue of the southern stars. The “modernity” of the constellations of the southern latitudes is signaled by the technological and scientific nature of many of symbols chosen for them, such as a telescope, microscope, a chemical furnace, engraver’s tools, and a pneumatic air pump.
Stevenson, E. L. Terrestrial & Celestial Globes, II, pp. 184-187; Dekker, E. Globes at Greenwich, p. 245; Dekker/ Van der Krogt, Globes from the Western World, pp. 110-111, 113-114; Van der Krogt, Old Globes in the Netherlands, pp. 36-37, 39-44; Dahl/ Gauvin, Sphaerae Mundi, p. 87. |
