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at the Sterling Memorial Library Map Collection, Yale University

This page contains a catalogue of the globes from the collection of Dr. Jonathan Lanman, Yale '40. The descriptions were written by Margit Kaye. The format of each entry is as follows:

Date, maker, place of making
Map Collection Catalogue Number[link to image of the globe]
Inscription as it appears on the globe

Notes and additional information

Further description of the globe

Celestial and Terrestrial Globes

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the skills of geography and astronomy were carried on mainly in the Arab world, and it was from this region that globes were reintroduced into Europe in the 15th century. The city of Nuremberg in Germany became the first major center of globe production in Europe - the earliest extant globe made in Nuremberg was a celestial globe made in 1444, and belonged to the mathematician and cardinal Nicolas of Cusa (1401-1464). The earliest surviving terrestrial globe from this time was made by Martin Behaim (1459-1506) in 1492. The globe depicted the known world - but it was produced just before Columbus's voyage to the New World.

Like two-dimensional cartography, globe-making flourished in the Netherlands in the sixteenth century as the Dutch expanded their exploration and sea trade. Over the course of the seventeenth century, the balance of power gradually shifted towards France, and by the end of the eighteenth century, English cartographers and globe-makers were the most prominent.

1699, Vincenzo Coronelli, Venice
Globe 20
D.D.D. Pater Magister Vincentius Coronelli Min: Conv. S. Francisci Serenissimae Venetorum Reipublicae Cosmographus MDCLXXXIX

Vincenzo Coronelli, born in Venice in 1650, was a Franciscan monk as well as a cartographer. One of his most significant accomplishments was the pair of giant globes (completed in 1680) which he produced on commission for King Louis XIV of France. Each one measured 15 feet in diameter, and had a doorway through which people could enter to observe the globe from the interior. About thirty people could fit inside each one.

This terrestrial globe, of course, is much smaller. It is a 1699 reproduction of a globe originally produced by Coronelli in 1696. The upper part of cartouche was left blank, in order to allow the cartographer to insert the name of the person to whom he wished to dedicate the globe.

47 cm diameter. Brass meridian. Wooden horizon with paper ring pasted on, giving information about wind directions and decorated with eight cherubs. Wooden base with four legs.

c. 1699, Vincenzo Coronelli, Venice
Globe 21
Amico Lettore. Oltre al molti Globi delineati dal P. Cosmografo Coronelli per Sourani diuersi di uarie e uaste misure ne ha ultimamente composti e stampi di cinque grandezze a publica beneficio, fra quali i piu commodi, ed exalti sono i presenti. I Numeri, che accompagnano le Stelle calcolate all'Epoca dell 1700; cosi l'altre notitie, ed uso de medesimi Globi, uengono nel sio Epitome Cosmografico diffusamente spiegate.

This globe was the corresponding celestial globe to the above terrestrial globe. Like its companion, this globe has half of its cartouche left empty so that the maker could insert the name of the person to whom he wanted to dedicate it.

47 cm in diameter. Brass meridian, wooden horizon (5 cm wide). Contains information about wind directions.

1730, Johann Gabriel Doppelmayer, place of making unknown
Globe 31
Globus Coelestis Novus Stellarum fixarum Loca secundum celeberrimi Astronomi Dantiscani Iohannis Hevelii Catalogum ad anum Chr. 1730 compl. sistens, opera Ioh. Gabr. Doppelmaieri. M.P.P. exhibitus a Iohanne Georgio Puschnero Chalcographo Noribergensi A.C.1728

32 cm. in diameter. Globe mounted on a three-legged wooden pedestal with a brass meridian and wooden horizon with zodiacal paper, about 2.5 cm wide.

1730, Johann Gabriel Doppelmaier, place of making unknown
Globe 17
Globus Terrestris Novus Loca Terrae insigniora/secpraestant. Astron. et Geogr. observationes sistens. opera Ioh. Gabr. Doppelmaieri/M.P.P. concinne traditus a Ioh. Georg. Puschnero/Chalcographo Norib. A.C.1730.

Johann Gabriel Doppelmaier (also spelled Doppelmayr and Doppelmayer) lived from 1671 to 1750. He was well-known as a mathematician, author, translator, and publisher as well as a cartographer.

20 cm. in diameter. Scale approx. 1:63,500,000. Brass meridian with pointer, wooden base and horizon.

c. 1785, George Adams, London
Globe 28
To His Most Sacred Majesty George the Third. This New Celestial Globe Containing all ye Southern Constellations lately observed at the Cape of Good Hope and all the Stars in Flamstead's British Catalogue is most humbly inscribed by His Majesty's most dutifull and oblidged Subject and Servant G. Adams. Sold by G. Adams, Math. Inst. Maker to ye King, Fleet Street, London.

The maker of this globe was George Adams, Jr. (1750-95) His father, George Adams, Sr., was one of the most important English instrument makers in the second half of the eighteenth century. After George Sr.'s death in 1773, the company he founded was managed by his sons, George Jr. and his younger brother Dudley.

This globe is mounted on a four-legged wooden stand. The horizon is 6 cm. wide and made of wood. There is a brass meridian circle.

1795, Dudley Adams, London
Globe 29
To His Most Sacred Majesty George The Third, King of Great Britain, etc. This new Globe of the Earth correctly laid down according to ye best observations and latest Discoveries in most humbly inscribed by His Majesty's most dutiful and obliged Subject and Servant Dudley Adams. Made by D. Adams (only) Globe maker to the King and Optician to HRH the Duke of York. Charing Cros. London 1795.

After the death of his elder brother George in 1795, Dudley Adams continued to run the business founded by their father, George Adams Sr. Dudley retired around 1830.

30 cm. diameter, mounted on a four-legged wooden stand. The horizon is 6 cm. wide, made of wood, and has a mounted zodiacal paper.

1816, John and William Cary, London
Globe 30
Cary's New Celestial Globe on which 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. Gilpin of the Royal Society. Made and sold by J. and W. Cary. Strand London Jan. 1816

John Cary (c.1754-1835)was a prominent mapmaker and map seller, and his brother William (c.1760-1825) was an instrument maker. They began making globes in 1791.

30 cm. in diameter. The globe is mounted on a four-legged wooden stand. The horizon is made of wood, 6 cm wide with a mounted zodiacal paper. The meridian circle is brass.

c. 1818, James Newton, London
Globe 22
Newton's Improved Pocket Celestial Globe. London.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth century, many people who could afford it carried pocket watches. As time went on, people took to carrying "pocket-sized" versions of other items such as barometers, and even globes. Some of these pocket globes were as small as 5 cm in diameter, and while some were either mounted on stands like conventional globes, others were enclosed in special cases to make them more portable, as this one was. The first one is believed to have been made by the British mathematician Joseph Moxon in the late 1600s, and the Newton family was one of the many British firms who produced such globes. Their London firm was founded by James Newton (probably the father of the James Newton who made this particular globe), who was born in 1748.

This globe is only 7.6 cm in diameter. It is enclosed in a spherical case of shagreen (sharkskin) with twelve colored, engraved, celestial gores pasted inside. The case is held together by a hinge, and can be locked with two hooks.

1837, Cyrus Lancaster, Albany NY
Globe 18
Wilson's New Thirteen Inch Celestial Globe. Containing the positions of nearly 7000 stars, clusters, nebulae...Carefully compil'd and laid down from the latest and most approv'd astronomical tables reduced to the present time. By C. Lancaster, Albany, N.Y. 1837.

James Wilson (1763-1855) was the first globe-maker in America. He was an apprentice of Amos Doolittle, and since 1810 had been producing his own globes. Cyrus Lancaster, in turn, was an employee of Wilson's, and later took over Wilson's firm.

Scale not given. 33 cm in diameter. Wooden stand supported by wooden circle with brass meridian ring. Mounted zodiacal paper c. 5.5 cm. wide.

1837, Cyrus Lancaster, Albany, NY
Globe 19
Wilson's New American Thirteen Inch Terrestrial Globe. Exhibiting with the greatest possible accuracy the positions and principal known places of the earth, with the tracks of various Circumnavigators together with New Discoveries and Political Alterations down to the present period.

33 cm diameter. Brass meridian. Wooden horizon with mounted zodiacal paper, 5.5 cm wide. Wooden stand, with four legs.

1840, Gilman Joslin, Boston
Globe 25
Joslin's six inch Terrestrial Globe, containing the latest Discoveries. Drawn and engraved by W.B. Annin. Boston: Gilman Joslin, 1840

Gilman Joslin became the assistant to Josiah Loring, the Boston mapmaker, in 1837, and from 1839 onwards, Joslin published Loring's maps under his own name.

15 cm in diameter, mounted in a three-legged wooden pedestal with a brass meridian ring and wooden circle with mounted zodiacal paper.

1864, Elbert Perce, New York
Globe 27
Perce's Magnetic Globe, Pat. Mch. 15th 1864, by Elbert Perce. New York: Charles Scribner and Co.

Elbert Perce (1832-69) was an author and editor who worked in Brooklyn, NY. This globe is accompanied by whimsical magnetized figures of people and animals which can be placed in various locations on the globe.

13 cm diameter, wooden base, no horizon or meridian rings.

c.1870, H.B. Nims, Troy, NY
Globe 23
The Franklin Terrestrial Globe 12 inches in diameter containing all the Geographical divisions and Political Boundaries to the present date. Carefully compiled from the best Authorities. H.B. Nims and Co. Troy N.Y.

In 1869, the booksellers Merriam and Moore became H.B. Nims and Co. Their globes were known as Franklin globes, a name which may have its origins with Franklin Field (c. 1824-1904), a globe manufacturer in Troy NY.

30 cm diameter, with a brass base.

1873, Charles Perigot, Paris
Globe 16
Globe Terrestre...dresse par Ch. Perigot Professeur d'Histoire et de Geographie du Lycee St Louis. Dresse par ALP. Mourax Inst. Geographique de Paris.

Little is known about Perigot aside from what can be learned from the inscription on this globe. He probably lived from 1828 to 1885, and is known to have worked in Paris as a geographer, cartographer, and maker of globes.

Scale 1:50,000,000. Meridian in brass, with brass horizon and wooden stand.

Sources

Fauser, Alois. Aeltere Erd-und Himmelsgloben in Bayern. Stuttgart: Schuller Verlagsgesellschaft, 1964.

Fowle, Richard. "James Wilson's Globes," in Vermont History, Vol. XXVII, No. 4, 1960.

Krogt, Peter van der. Old Globes in the Netherlands. Utrecht: HES Publishers, 1984.

Muris, Oswald. Der Globus im Wandel der Zeiten. Berlin: Columbus Verlag KG., 1961

Sotheby's Fine Books and Manuscripts, including Important Americana. New York: Sotheby's, 1991.

Tooley, R.V. Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers

Phillips Auctioneers Ltd.