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 number00056234

NameGlobe

MediumCard, string

DimensionsOverall (flat): 172 × 194 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

DescriptionA collapsible engraved and handcoloured globe in six gores (170 mm tall). It is protected by the original lithographed portfolio comprising eight folding pages of text, plus a double-sided engraved and hand-coloured card ‘Mécanisme du Glode Artificiel’. HistoryA teaching globe 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.