Pair of Regency Terrestrial and Celestial Library Globes

CARY, George; John and William Cary.

$15,000.00

Item Number: 141475

London: George and John Cary and by John and William Cary, c. 1816 and 1821.

Fine pair of rare early 19th century celestial and terrestrial table globes the cartouche of the terrestrial globe reads Cary’s New Terrestrial Globe Delineated From the best Authorities extant Exhibiting the late discoveries towards the North Pole and every improvement in Geography to the present Time London Made & Sold by G & J Cary, 86 S. James’s St. March 15th 1821; the cartouche of the celestial globe reads Cary’s New Celestial Globe on white are correctly laid down upwards of 3500 stars Selected from the most accurate observations and calculated for the year 1800. With the extent of each Constellation precisely defined By Mr. Gilplin of the Royal Society Made & Sold by J&W Cary  Strand London Jan 1. 1816. English cartographer John Cary served his apprenticeship as an engraver in London before setting up his own business in the Strand in 1783. He soon gained a reputation for his maps and globes, and his atlas, The New and Correct English Atlas published in 1787, became a standard reference work in England. In the production of globes, he worked with his better-known brother, William Cary, who was highly regarded for his skills as an astronomical instrument maker. In very good condition with some light restoration with the celestial globe’s meridian ring was repaired in the 19th century along two fractures. Each globe measures 25 inches tall by 17.25 inches wide.

The sphericity of the Earth was established by Greek astronomers in the 3rd century BC, with the earliest terrestrial globe appearing during that period. The earliest known globe was constructed by Crates of Mallus in Cilicia (now Çukurova in modern-day Turkey) in the mid-2nd century B.C.E. Now known as the Erdapfel, the earliest extant terrestrial globe was produced in 1492 by German mapmaker, navigator, and merchant Martin Behaim in Nuremberg, Germany. Traditionally, globes were manufactured by gluing a printed paper map onto a sphere, often made from wood.