19th Century Pair of English Globes by William Harris, 1832 and 1835

Pair of 12-inch table globes
William Harris
London, 1832 and 1835
Slight abrasions from use; few cracks

The two terrestrial and celestial globes rest in their original Dutch style stands with four supporting turned wood columns.
Each one measures 12 in in height x 16.5 in in diameter with the diameter of the spheres measuring approximately 12 in; 48 cm in height x 42 cm in diameter x 31 cm diameter of the spheres.
The 12 inch measure was the most frequently used by British manufacturers of globes of this period.
Each globe is composed of two series of twelve printed paper gores, aligned and glued onto plaster spheres.
The brass circle of the meridian bears engravings marking the degrees of latitude. The circle on the horizon, instead, is made of wood covered with printed paper and shows in detail the amplitude, the days and months of the year and the names and symbols of the zodiac.

Each globe bears a cartouche containing two different inscriptions:
On the terrestrial globe the cartouche is affixed in the North Pacific Ocean:
HARRIS’S
TERRESTRIAL GLOBE,
on which is carefully Delineated
all the New Discoveries to the Present Time
BY W. HARRIS GLOBE MAKER TO THE KING,
N. 22 CORNHILL LONDON.
1832

On the celestial one the cartouche is affixed to the left of the Boreal Crown:
HARRIS’S
New & Improved
CELESTIAL GLOBE,
on which the Precession of the Stars
are carefully laid down to the Year 1835.
BY W. HARRIS GLOBE MAKER
TO HIS MAJESTY,
N. 22 CORNHILL LONDON.

On the terrestrial globe the exploration routes of Cook, Gore, Vancouver and La Pérouse as well as others from the previous era, are traced. Parts of central and southern Africa are unexplored: the Tanganyika Lake is outlined, but Lake Victoria is missing (it was described for the first time in 1858). In the Arctic Ocean the so-called Passage to the North West is barely sketched (it was to be definitively identified in 1906). Alaska is only partially outlined. Australia (which was already so called in 1824) is still named New Holland.

William Harris began his activity at the laboratory and sales shop that his father Thomas had started around 1808 in London at no. 20 of Duke Street. After some transfers and after his father’s death, William moved definitively to no. 22 of Cornhill, still in London. They were both renowned cartographers, engravers and manufacturers of scientific instruments, and their business prospered for almost thirty years, until 1836 (or 1838), when the company inexplicably went bankrupt. (See Van der Krogt, P., Old Globes in the Netherlands, Utrecht, 1984, pp. 141-142 and Van der Krogt, P. - Dekker, E., Globes from the Western World, London 1993, passim. On bankruptcy see: Elwick, George, The Bankrupt Directory: Being a Complete Register of the Bankrupts, with Their Residences, Trades, and Dates when They Appeared in the London Gazette, from December 1820 to April 1843, London, 1843.)