The rare 1627 second state of Hondius' 1600 14-inch (35.5cm.) celestial globe (van der Krogt HON IIB, state 2). Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612), one of the greatest cartographers of the Dutch "Golden Age" of globe manufacture, grew up in Ghent, where he served an apprenticeship as a globe maker and engraver. A Protestant, he left the religious upheaval of the Low Countries for London in 1584, where he produced both maps and globes, notably for Emery Molyneux (d. 1598-99, cf. van der Krogt HON M-I and HON-MII), before establishing his business in Amsterdam in about 1595.
Hondius published his second globe pair (which was also his first of 14 inches diameter) circa 1597 (HON II) at about the same time that his major rival Willem Jansz. Blaeu (1571-1638) published a 13½ inch (34.3cm.) diameter celestial globe (BLA I), employing the observations of the celebrated astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), with whom he had studied at the Uraniborg observatory. However, Hondius' celestial globe (HON IIA) had the great advantage that it used the observations of previously unknown stars at the South pole, made by Pieter Dircksz. Keyser, Frederik de Houtman (1540-1627) and the other astronomers of the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies (1595-97), as the cartouche states: "circa Polum Aust eae [i.e. the stars] quae à Peritiß nauclero Petro Theodori Matheseos studioso, annotatae sunt". Petrus Plancius (1552-1622) who commissioned these observations, retained the privilege of this knowledge, and collaborated with Hondius on the production of this globe, so that: "In scholarly terms, Jodocus Hondius and Peter Plancius' celestial globe was better than that by Willem Jansz. Blaeu, but in terms of decoration, Blaeu's globe enjoyed greater favour" (p. 161). Initially, the perceived aesthetic weakness of Hondius' celestial was outweighed by his ability to supply a pair: however, when Blaeu published a terrestrial globe to accompany the celestial in 1599, his "globes were now in a good market position. The buyer could choose from two globe pairs with equivalent terrestrial globes, but whose celestial globes differed; the one was better but the other was more handsome" (pp. 161-2). The appeal of Blaeu's celestial globe was due to its use of Jan Pietersz. Saenredam's figurative depictions of the constellations, described by van der Krogt as: "lavish and exuberant" (p. 160).
Hondius responded to this serious commercial threat by producing a new pair, of which the celestial (dated 1600, HON IIB, state 1) placed his superior astronomical information in the context of the more attractive Saenredam-style constellation depictions he engraved, naming both Pieter Dircksz. Keyser and Tycho Brahe as his sources (see cartouche detail: "In quo stellae fixae omnes quae a N. viro Tychone Brahae summa industria ac cura observatae sunt, accuratißime designatur: necnon, circa Polum Aust. eae quae à Peritiß. nauclero Petro Theodori Matheseos studioso, annotae sunt."). Tycho Brahe's observations are acknowledged and emphasised as a second, respected source by an engraved portrait (see detail). Hondius died in 1612, and his widow Colette van der Keere and their son Jodocus the younger and later his brother Henricus, continued the business, publishing a second state of the celestial globes in 1627 (HON IIB, state 2, the present example). As van der Krogt remarks on p. 470, the cartography remained unchanged, but the last line of the dedication was re-engraved, substituting "Jod. et Henricus Hondij 1627" for Jodocus Hondius ann. 1600" (see detail and also van der Krogt p. 471, fig. 2.2.21). A third state was published by Joan Blaeu, circa 1670.
Van der Krogt's census records nine copies of the 1600 celestial globe (of which six are in institutional collections, nos. 4, 10, 13 and 15-17), and one copy of the 1627 celestial globe, in the Bibliotèque Municipale of Le Mans, France (no. 3).