This celestial globe is supported on a wooden tri-leg pedestal, surrounded by a wooden horizon circle, and is equipped with a brass meridian and a small brass circle around the north pole. It (and its terrestrial mate) belonged to the Anglo-American chemist, Joseph Priestley.
The text in the cartouche in the southern hemisphere reads: “To the Rev. / NEVIL MASKELYNE, D.D. F.R.S. / Astronomer Royal / The New British Celestial Globe / containing the Positions of nearly 6000 Stars, Clusters, nebulae, Planetary / Nebulae &c. Correctly computed & laid down to the year 1800; from the latest observati / ons and discoveries by Dr Maskelyne, Dr Herschel, The Revd Mr Wollaston &c. &c. / Is respectfully Dedicated / by his most obedient hbl Servants / W. & T. M. Bardin”
William Bardin (fl. 1730-1798) was a London artisan who began making globes around 1780. Around 1790, now in partnership with his son, Thomas Marriott Bardin (1768-1819), he began trading as W. & T. M. Bardin. The 18-inch globes were their most ambitious. They were introduced in 1798, and remained in production, by successor firms, for a half century.
Ref: John Millburn and Tör Rossaak, “The Bardin Family, Globe Makers in London” Der Globusfreund (1992).
Elly Dekker, Globes at Greenwich (Oxford, 1999), pp. 260-270.
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