Globe Artificiel et Mécanique a l’Usage du Petit Geographe

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Globe Artificiel et Mécanique a l’Usage du Petit Geographe

Date1833

Object number00056235

NamePortfolio

MediumCard

DimensionsOverall (open): 553 × 350 mm
Overall (closed): 188 × 118 mm

ClassificationsBooks and journals

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Purchased with the assistance of the Louis Vuitton Trust Fund

Collections

New to the collection

Terms

DescriptionFlapped portfolio titled ‘Globe Artificel et Mecanique du Petit Geographe’ comprising eight folding pages of French text containing information about the artificial globe it houses (see 00056234). The back cover features an illustration of the zodiac calendar. Some of the information related is about the Earth, Horizon, Earth’s axis, Equator, Meridian, Tropics, Polar circles, Zones, Asia, Africa, Europe, America, O Equinox, solstices, parallel lines, the Moon.HistoryA teaching globe and accompanying information by French educator Augustin Legrand, dating to approximately 1830. The accompanying folding booklet contains a good description of the workings of ‘Le Globe artificiel’, including an overview of the basic components of geography. These fragile globes were a popular educational toy of the period. The mapping of the globe is surprisingly accurate, with the various zones and also the ecliptic marked. Off the coast of New Zealand is marked the antipode of Paris, and the map of ‘Nouvelle Hollande’ is scattered with the older Dutch place names, but also ‘Botany Bay’ and the unusual ‘T. de Grant’ for the area that was initially called in French the Terre Napoleon after the territorial claims made in the wake of the 1800–03 Baudin voyage. SignificanceAugustin Legrand was a noted French educator and publisher through the first half of the nineteenth century. Amongst his products was a series of folding globes that illustrated the growth in geographical knowledge, produced especially in the decades after the Napoleonic Wars. These were popular during their era but their fragile construction and intended market amongst children and schools limits the number that have survived in good condition. They nevertheless convey a sense of French knowledge at a time of rethinking their nation’s place a global power.