WRIGHT, Gabriel BARDIN, William, London, 1782

Details

WRIGHT, Gabriel BARDIN, William, London, 1782
A pair of 12-inch (30.5cm.) diameter table globes, the terrestrial FERGUSONS TERRESTRIAL GLOBE Improv'd by G. WRIGHT, Wherein all the new Discoveries of the late Capt Cook and other eminent navigators are correctly laid down to the Present Time Made & Sold by Wm.Bardin, No.4, Hind Court, Fleet Street. made up of twelve delicately hand-coloured engraved gores and two polar calottes, each with an engraved hour dial, the southern calotte with Published according to Act of Parliament by W. Bardin, the equatorial graduated in degrees in two directions, the Greenwich meridian ungraduated, the ecliptic graduated in days of the houses of the Zodiac with symbols, the oceans with an analemma, a wind rose in the north Pacific, wind directions and the Antipodes of London, the Indian Ocean showing Course of the WINDS called MONSOONS and three sets of arrows with the names of months, also showing the tracks of Cook's three voyages with various dates, Furneaux's Track 1773 and Com. Anson's Track, other details such as Isles explored by the Spaniards, Isle disc. 1664, Ld. seen by Mendanna 1568 north of Hawaii, and Desert Islds.seen by Marian 1772, the Antarctic with no coastline and notes such as Many Islands and Fields of Ice, the continents with nation states delicately outlined or shaded in green and showing towns, cities and rivers, the mountains in pictorial relief, China showing the Great Wall, north-eastern Siberia labelled Country of the Tschutka, Africa with a note beneath Ethiopia This Country is very little known by the Europeans and other notes such as Head of the River unknown and Back Bone of the World across CAFFRERIA, Northern India labelled MOGULS EMPIRE, Japan labelled NIPHON, Australia showing NEW SOUTH WALES disc. 1770 with Tasmania joined to the southern coast and labelled Diemens Land disc. 1642, New Guinea with no southern coastline, Western Brazil lablled COUNTRY OF THE AMAZONS and Parts scarce known, Patagonia labelled TERRA MAGELLANICA a low Desert Coast, North America showing Bay of Good Hope Here Captn.Cook repair'd, Port Buccarelly, discd.by the Spaniards, North West Continent of America, discovered by Capt. Cook, in 1780, several mentions of ESKIMAUX, Middleton's Difcoveries 1742, northern Greenland showing Here the Hills are said to be cover'd with Snow & the Weather temperate (several old repaired cracks and areas of discolouration, particularly to poles); the celestial WRIGHT'S New Improv'd CELESTIAL GLOBE On which the Stars are correctly laid down from the Observations of Dr HALLEY, Dr BRADLEY, & c. Made & Sold by Wm. Bardin, No:4, Hind Court, Fleet Street, LONDON., made up of twelve delicately hand-coloured engraved gores, the equatorial and the equinoctial and solstitial colures graduated in degrees, the ecliptic graduated in days of the houses of the Zodiac with symbols, the constellations depicted by mythical beasts and figures and scientific instruments and labelled in Latin, the stars to seven orders of magnitude, some labelled in Latin, some within constellations labelled with Greek characters, a separate inscription around the southern ecliptic polar circle Published according to Act of Parliament by G. Wright & Wm.Bardin. Jany.1st.1782., the celestial polar circles with printed hour dials (a few old repaired cracks at poles, some small areas of discolouration); both spheres with a brass pointer at the north pole, polished engraved brass meridian circle divided in four quadrants and graduated in degrees on one side only (replacement), the mahogany horizon with delicately hand-coloured paper circle graduated in degrees, days of the month and days of the houses of the Zodiac with symbols, pictures and names, also showing wind directions and edged in red, the four mahogany quadrant supports to carved and turned central column, with three outswept legs terminating in pad feet (compasses missing)-- 24in. (61cm.) high

See Colour Illustration and Details (2)

Literature

CLIFTON, Gloria, Directory of Scientific Instrument Makers (London, 1995)
DEKKER, Elly, and van der KROGT, Peter, Globes From The Western World (London, 1993) pp.114-116
MILLBURN, John R., and RSSAAK, Tor E., 'The Bardin Family, globe-makers in London, and their associate, Gabriel Wright' in Der Globusfreund no. 40/1 (Berlin, 1992) pp.21-57

Lot Essay

Gabriel Wright (1740-1803) was an apprentice of Benjamin Martin (1704-1782), working in the latter's shop for eighteen years, and presumably making many of the Martin globes up until around 1780, when he entered into collaboration with the powerful firm of Bardin & Son, run by William Bardin (1740-1798). On Wright's death, Bardin's son Thomas (1768-1819) came into the business, and was in turn succeeded by his son-in-law Samuel S. Edkins (1791-1853). William Bardin 'made & sold' Wright's globes, and it would appear that his globes were also sold by other English instrument-makers: "names such as Adams, Dollond, Hurter, Souter and especially W.&S. Jones, are found on what are basically Bardin globes" (Millburn & Rssaak).

Dekker and Van Der Krogt illustrate the cartouche from a Ferguson globe, improved by Wright and published by Bardin, from 1782, and note that it gives "a neat summary of a piece of London globe history in a nutshell. James Ferguson (1710-76), who bought most of the copper plates of Senex's globes in 1755, also made new globes: 'Mr. Senex's terrestrial globe, new drawn and improved... by James Ferguson'. In 1757, he handed the globe trade over to Benjamin Martin (1704-82), although the names 'Senex' and 'Ferguson' remained linked with the globes for commercial reasons. In 1782, Gabriel Wright (d.1803/4), Martin's assistant, drew some new globes, which he still called 'Ferguson's terrestrial globe'. This globe was published by William Bardin (c.1740-98)".

For a more extensive overview of this strand of eighteenth-century British globe-making, see note to Lot 85.

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