Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Cary's new celestial globe on which are carefully laid down the whole of the stars and nebulae ... , c. 1830

Cary's new celestial globe on which are carefully laid down the whole of the stars and nebulae ... , c. 1830

GLOBE 8
Hand-coloured globe with brass meridian circles and hour rings mounted on a mahogany stand
Purchased from Hordern House in 2013

This celestial globe shows all the figures of the constellations and stars. The stars are classified in successive orders of magnitude. It shows the contemporary knowledge of the stars and constellations of the Southern Hemisphere to 1820, including the discoveries of Edmund Halley and Abbe de Lacaille.

From the 16th century

From the sixteenth century most globes were made of papier-mâché and plaster. The round surface was then covered with strips of paper, called gores. The cartographic images were printed on the gores before they were applied to the surface of the globe. This globe, produced by John Cary, has been made using a set of 12 gores. The gores are made from paper manufactured by the Wilmott company and watermarked 1830.


John Cary's company

John Cary founded his company in London in 1792 and became one of the most prominent mapmakers of his day. Cary was part of a new generation of cartographers whose focus was geographical accuracy rather than extravagant decoration.  John was joined by his brother William Cary, a globe maker and by John’s sons George and John Cary, who created this globe.  The firm closed in 1850.