Newton, John

An English 2¾” (70mm.) diameter terrestrial pocket globe made up of 12 hand-coloured engraved gores laid down to the metal axis pins, the "Equinoctial Line" in yellow, the "Ecliptic Line" in green, both graduated in degrees, the latter also showing the symbols of the zodiac, the meridian of Greenwich, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and Arctic and Antarctic Circles marked, wind directions marked on the oceans, Australasia with "New Holland", "New South Wales", "Botany Bay", "Dimens Land", "Lewins L[and]", the "I[sles of] St Francis", and "New Zeeland" identified, Tasmania shown as an island and marked "Diemans Land", Antarctica uncharted and with an outer part marked "Ice Sea", northern Canada and Greenland uncharted, "Admiral Ansons Tract" and "Captain Cook's Tract" marked, some minimal light surface abrasion, in the original red-edged spherical fishskin-covered case with hinge and two brass clasps, the interior laid with twelve celestial gores separating around the equinoctial, the constellations depicted as mythical beasts and figures labelled in Latin, case slightly rubbed and with cracks

A very good example of 
a pocket globe by the celebrated English globe-maker John Newton (1759-1844), who was apprenticed to Thomas Bateman (fl. 1754-1781), who in turn had studied under the globe-maker Nathaniel Hill (fl. 1746-68). John Newton’s first globe was produced in partnership with William Palmer, and was a pocket globe, which used the gores of Nathaniel Hill's 1754 2¾” globe and was issued in 1780 – marking the establishment of one of the most important British firms of globemakers, which continued into the early 20th century. Pocket globes remained an important type of globe for Newton through the nineteenth century, and this 2¾” globe – which is based upon Hill’s gores, but adds more recent information, such as the routes of Cook’s voyages and new information about the Australian coastline – is an attractive early example in very fresh, unrestored condition.