English Pocket Globe. After Moll, between 1775 and 1798

Pocket globe
London, between 1775 and 1798
Re-edition of the globe of Hermann Moll (1678-1732) dated 1719

The globe is contained in its original case, which itself is covered in shark skin.

There are slight gaps in the original paint on the sphere. The case no longer closes.

The sphere measures 2.7 in (7 cm) in diameter whereas the case measures 2.9 in (7.4 cm) in diameter. Weight: lb 0.22 (kg 0.1)

The globe is made up of twelve printed paper gores aligned and glued to the sphere.

In the North Pacific Ocean there is a cartouche with the inscription:

A Correct
GLOBE
with the new
Discoveries.

The celestial globe is depicted on the inside of the box and is divided into two hemispheres with the cartouche:
A Correct Globe
with ye New Cons
telations of Dr.
Halley & c.
It shows the ecliptic divided into the days of the zodiacal calendar and the constellations represented as animals and mythological figures.


On the globe are delineated the equinoctial line, divided by degrees and hours, the ecliptic and the meridian (passing west of Greenwich). The continents are shaded and outlined in pink, green and yellow. It shows: the Cook routes; a wind rose in the Southern Indian Ocean; Antarctica without land; Africa with Negroland (Hermann Moll is considered the first geographer to name the West African region in his 1727 map. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, ed. 1902, under "States of Central Africa"); Tartary in Central Asia; the Mogul kingdom in northern India; in North America only New England, Virginia, Carolina, Florida, Mississippi are identified; California is already a peninsula; the northwest coast of America is "unknown parts" (Alaska is not described and it is only partially delineated, it was to become part of the United States in 1867); Mexico is named "Spain"; Central South America "Amazone America". Australia (which was to be so named after 1824) is called New Holland. The route of Admiral Anson is traced (1740) and the trade winds are indicated by arrows. (See Van der Krogt, P., Old Globes in the Netherlands, Utrecht 1984, p. 146 and Van der Krogt, P. - Dekker, E., Globes from the Western World, London 1993, pp. 115.)

Elly Dekker, comparing Moll’s 1719 globe and his re-edition (of which the one described above is a sample), identifies the differences between them: the two editions are quite similar to each other, but in the "anonymous" globe, compared to the previous globe of 1719, California looks like a proper peninsula - the reports of the Spanish explorers of the region had given rise to uncertainty over whether it was connected to the mainland or not. The geographical nature of California was confirmed after the explorations of Juan Bautista de Anza (1774-1776). The routes of Dampier's journey were partially erased and the route of Captain James Cook's first voyage was superimposed on them, and the geography of Australasia was adapted accordingly, including the denomination of the Cook Strait. See Dekker, Elly, Globes at Greenwich, 1999.
An important ante quem element is represented by Tasmania: it is not separated from Australia by the Bass Strait, which was discovered by Matthew Flinders in 1798.

For a comparison with other specimens see Van der Krogt, P., ibidem and Van der Krogt, P. - Dekker, E., ibidem.