Jon Baddeley
Specialist Consultant Collectors, Science & Marine
The Stephen Edell Collection of Pocket and Table Globes
Lot 184
A very rare Joseph Moxon 2 ¾-inch pocket globe, English, circa 1675,
15 September 2021, 14:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £187,750 inc. premium
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Claire Tole-Moir
Head of Department
A very rare Joseph Moxon 2 ¾-inch pocket globe, English, circa 1675,
the terrestrial cartouche printed Made by J Moxon; the celestial cartouche printed Londini Sumptibus J Moxon, the sphere with twelve printed gores displaying traces of colouring, California shown as an island, tracks of Sir Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish, combination of Latin and English names, in fish-skin case with celestial gores to the interior, with traces of colouring, single hook and eye,
2 3/4in (7cm) diameter
2 3/4in (7cm) diameter
Footnotes
Provenance:
Ex-Lot 34, Christie's, South Kensington, 18 July 1985.
The Stephen Edell Collection.
Joseph Moxon (1627-1691) was the second person to make printed globes in England and it is suggested that he was the first to produce and sell small "pocket" globes. Moxon learnt the printing trade in the Netherlands and followed in his father's footsteps after his return to England in the 1650's, when he started to produce scientific papers, maps and a variety of globes ranging in sizes up to 26 inches in diameter. The pocket globes proved to be very popular as a convenient and portable way to discuss latest discoveries with colleagues in the emerging coffee houses in the City. They were priced at 15 shillings, a sum much less expensive than the larger table and library globes. Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) bought a pair of the larger Moxon globes for himself, and also acquired another pair for the Admiralty during his time as Chief Secretary.
Literature:
Derek Long, 'At the Sign of the Atlas' The Life and Work of Joseph Moxon. A Restoration Polymath, Donington, 2013, pp. 47-48, figs. 6.5 & 6.6.
Sylvia Sumira, The Art and History of Globes, London, 2014.
