A PAIR OF REGENCY 18-INCH LIBRARY GLOBES

JOHN AND WILLIAM CARY, 1816 WITH CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS 1827 AND 1816

Details

The terrestrial cartouche: CARY'S NEW TERRESTRIAL GLOBE EXHIBITING The Tracks and Discoveries made by CAPTAIN COOK; Also those of CAPTAIN VANCOUVER on the NORTH WEST COAST of AMERICA and MADE LA PEROUSE, on the COAST of TARTARY TOGETHER With Every other Improvement collected from Various Navigators and Travellers to the present time. Made & Sold by J&W Cary, Strand March. 1st 1816.,WITH CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS to 1827, the sphere is made up of two sets of twelve hand-coloured engraved gores, graduated equatorial, ecliptic and four meridians, oceans with an analemma, seasonal passages in the Indian Ocean, and the tracks of explorers such as Cook, Vancouver and la Perouse. The Antarctic with no coastline, the continents show pale orange, green and yellow shading for the nation states, with some faint remains of outlining. Details include: towns, cities, rivers, mountains and deserts. Australia shows the boundary between New Holland and New South Wales; Africa shows oases and copper mines, the Mountains of the Moon, NIME AMAY and UNKNOWN PARTS; North America shows territories of nations such as the Snake, Fall, Blackfoot and Rocky Mountain and California is labelled Unexplored Countries.
The celestial cartouche: CARY'S NEW CELESTIAL GLOBE, on which are laid down THE WHOLE of the STARS AND NEBULÆ & ect. contained in the Astronomical Works of the REV.d F. WOLLAASTON E.R.S. Dela Caille Herschel, Hevelius, Mater, Flamsteed, Bradley &tc. London Made & Sold J. & W. Cary Strand, March 1816. The sphere is made up of two sets of twelve hand-coloured gores laid to the ecliptic poles laid on a wood and plaster sphere, with the axis through the celestial poles, table giving the stars to eight orders of magnitude, with nebulæ, and a note below the cartouche explains the labelling with numbers, Greek characters, underlining and initials. The constellations are depicted by mythical beasts and figures and scientific instruments.
Both spheres are supported by mahogany stands on three inswept legs with brass castors.
each approx.: 45 1/2 in. (106 cm.) high; 23in. (48 cm.) diameter
Lot Essay

John Cary, the elder (1755-1835) was a prominent English cartographer, engraver, globe maker and publisher. With his brother William, J. & W. Cary were among the most successful of the thriving London map, globe and instrument trade of their day. This, their largest pair of globes, is finely engraved and hand-colored as issued.
The terrestrial sphere shows the routes of the eighteenth century circumnavigators and explorers of the north Pacific, James Cook and his followers; Vancouver, La Perouse, Phipps, Pickersgill, and Russian navigators including Rasmyloff. Important new information of the American northwest and Asian northeast coasts appears clearly on the scale afforded by this size globe. In advertisements for his 21 inch globes in various of his geographical works, Cary stated that he had availed himself of the voyages of Mungo Park (West Africa); 'Clark & Lewis(!)' (Western U.S.); Humboldt (Latin America); Flinders (Australia); Elphinstone (maritime) and Capt. Ross (Arctic). Of further interest is the political border between the U.S. and Canada, indicating that the U.S. controlled lands well north of what the final resolution would proclaim a few decades later.
The celestial globe, with the axis running through the celestial poles, was also kept current with the astronomical findings of scientists including the renowned British astronomer Caroline Herschel, who updated and corrected the 'Observations of the Fixed Stars' of Flamsteed. 'It contained some 3,500 stars, more than any previous globe.' (Kanas, 2007).