Loring’s nine and half inch terrestrial globe.

Drawn and engraved by W, B. Annin. Boston : Josiah Loring, [c.1845]. Terrestrial globe, 9 1/2 inches in diameter, engraved gores and two polar calottes with original hand colouring over papier mache base, graduated equator, ecliptic and date line meridian, the oceans with an analemma showing the delineation of the sun for every day of the year and the equation of time; engraved calibrated brass meridian ring, movable brass polar arrow, original engraved calendrical paper horizon ring with zodiac laid on wood, supported on the original stand of four turned cherry wood legs united with cross-stretchers. A fine example with a rich and warm patina, some natural old discolouration due to the glue used of the period, recent lacquer expertly applied for conservation.

A fine nineteenth-century American globe which shows the extent of Weddell’s voyage to the Antarctic Ocean in 1823, and the land discovered by Captain Wilkes in the Ship Vincennes (1840) during the progress of the United States Exploring Expedition (1838 – 1842). Owhyhee on the Sandwich Isles and annotated with ‘Here Capt. Cook was killed 1779’. Alaska is marked as Russian America and next to the city of Canton is the misspelled city of Hong Kiang. The interior of the islands of New Zealand labelled EAHEI NOMAEWE and TOVAI POEN AMOO.

Josiah Loring was the first commercial globe maker active in Boston, publishing his first globe in 1832. The gores were engraved by William B. Annan based on the gores of C. Smith and Son, London. From about 1837, Loring was assisted by Gilman Joslin (1804 – c. 1886), Loring passed away circa 1840.

Nineteenth-century globes in such good condition are rare in the market.

References:

SUMIRA, Sylvia. The art and history of globes. London : The British Library, 2014, pp. 31

DEKKER, Elly and van der Krogt, Peter. Globes from the Western World. London: Zwemmer, 1993.  pp. 126.

National Maritime Museum [UK].  http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/19856.html

Collections (other examples)

Library of Congress

Yale University