The Franklin Terrestrial Globe. Troy, NY: H.B. Nims, ca. 1867/1868. 10-inch globe. Circular Cartouche: THE FRANKLIN/ TERRESTRIAL/ GLOBE/ 10 INCHES IN DIAMETER CONTAINING ALL THE/ Geographical Divisions/ & POLITICAL BOUNDARIES/ to present date/ carefully compiled from the best Authorities/ MOORE & NIMS/ TROY N.Y.
$10,000.00
The terrestrial globe is surmounted by an arrow pointer and printed hour circle, within a calibrated full brass meridian. The globe, within a circular horizon with engraved paper zodiac, is raised on a hard-wood stand with four turned legs ending in spade feet, joined by a turned X-form stretcher. Oceans and geographic entities are cream colored, with some light green and dark green outlining. There is also an oval analemma colored pink (faded) and green.
North and South Dakota are shown prior to statehood (1891) with the area east of the Missouri River labeled “Dacota” and the rest included with present-day Nebraska. Oklahoma is called “Indian Territory.” The recently installed Atlantic Cable between Britain and the U.S. is shown as “Submarine Telegraph Cable.” A dotted line indicates routes taken by the U.S. Navy expedition to explore the Pacific Ocean led by Lt. Charles Wilkes from 1838 to 1842 and a dotted line labeled “New York to Aspinwall” shows the Pacific Mail route from New York to San Francisco via Panama established by William Aspinwall. Various captions each with a synopsis of an event of then recent history are printed in the oceans. Republic of Liberia noted, the Congo River still incomplete. Suez Canal not yet built. Cook’s routes of exploration are noted.
Franklin Globes were produced throughout the second half of the 19th century in Troy, New York, by a succession of globe makers and booksellers: Merriam & Moore (c. 1848-52), Merriam Moore & Co. (1852-58), Moore & Nims (1858-68), H.B. Nims & Co. (1869-85), Nims & Knight (1886-89), and back to H.B. Nims & Co. (1890-96). They were available in the six, ten, twelve, sixteen, and thirty-inch diameters, with a variety of bases, generally in iron or wood and often reflecting the prevailing Victorian decorative arts style of the period.
Ref: Dekker, Elly and van der Krogt, Peter. Globes from the Western World. London: Zwemmer, 1993. pp. 135-36, 140.
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