A pair of 17th century hand-coloured engraved paper gores and wooden and ebonised Dutch table globes, Amsterdam, the celestial globe by Joan Blaeu dated 1603 but realised circa 1621, the terrestrial globe by Jan Jansz. van Ceulen, circa 1682

the terrestrial composed of twelve hand-coloured engraved paper gores, signed in one engraved cartouche 'Ioannes van Ceulen [...] 1682'; the celestial composed of twelve hand-coloured engraved paper gores, signed in one engraved cartouche by Willem Blaeu; both globes mounted in brass meridian rings graduated in degrees, without hour-rings or pointers; upon Dutch wooden and ebonised stands; (both globes with significant restorations of cracks and surfaces losses, some missing areas restored by hand)

Related literature:
E. Dekker, Globes at Greenwich, Oxford and Greenwich, 1999, GLB0107 (terrestrial) and GLB0101 (celestial)
P. van der Krogt, Globi Neerlandici, Utrecht, 1993, BLA1, state 4 (terrestrial) and state 3 (celestial)

The illustration of the catalogue is accurate. As noted in the catalogue description, the terrestrial and celestial globes have suffered some significant damage to the surface and the plaster has cracked causing surface losses of both plaster and engraved paper. This has been restored by infilling of missing plaster and the missing engraved surface has been supplied, and the missing text and colour has been added by a modern hand. In some instances the missing text has been supplied by applied paper slips bearing the missing text, although this restoration has not been executed to a particularly high standard, and appears to have been undertaken by someone without a knowledge of Latin (the language of the globe's text); this has led to some regrettable renderings, such as that of the Latin text 'gyris discurrerent: hinc factu ut in' as 'gyris diseurrerent: hine fictu ut in' on one label. The original brass hour-rings and the associated pointers are missing, and the brass meridian rings, which appear to be later additions (without the numbers on the reverse, which one expects to find on the meridian rings of Blaeu globes) are slightly distorted, causing them to sit awkwardly in the stands. The wooden stands appear to be contemporary, but have been restored with the application of modern paper horizon-ring labels, executed to a reasonable standard (although that on the celestial globe has suffered a small loss of paper). Some elements of the stands (e.g. the wooden bosses on the upper surface of the base-plate) appear to be later additions. Nonetheless, this remains a rare pair of table globes by one of the greatest Dutch globe-makers and cartographers of the 'Golden Age'.
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These are a rare pair of the first celestial and terrestrial globes produced by Blaeu, one of the greatest Dutch globe-makers of the 'Golden Age'. As a young man, Willem Jansz. Blaeu (1571-1638) had visited the celebrated Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe at his Uraniborg observatory on Hven in 1595, where he assisted Brahe with his observations and also made a close study of Brahe's celestial globe. This served as the basis for Blaeu's first celestial globe, which was issued in 1597 or 1598, using the observations of Brahe and other astronomers and depicting the constellations pictorially with drawings commissioned from the Dutch artist Jan Pietersz. Saenredam: 'The astronomical content combined with the new drawing style made this celestial globe the best and most modern of its time' (E. Dekker and P. van de Krogt, Globes from the Western World, London, 1993, p. 45).  However, it was soon challenged by a celestial globe published by Blaeu's greatest rival, Jodocus Hondius I in 1598, which incorporated data from the new observations undertaken in the southern hemisphere by Petrus Plancius' expedition. Blaeu's response was to sponsor a second expedition to chart the southern skies, led by his fellow-citizen of Alkmaar, Frederick de Houtman, which provided an alternative – and improved – source of astronomical data. The present globe is the third state of Blaeu's 1597/1598 celestial globe, which was issued after circa 1621; the only distinction between the second and third states is that the dedication to Maurits of Nassau, Prince of Orange is signed 'Guilielmus Janssonius Blaeu' (rather than 'Guilielmus Janssonius Alcmarianus', as it had been in the two earlier states).

Shortly after the celestial appeared, Blaeu published a terrestrial globe dated 1599, which allowed him to offer a competitor to Hondius' pair of terrestrial and celestial table globes. Blaeu's terrestrial globe was later re-issued in circa 1618-1621, with updated details of recent discoveries of Schouten and Le Maire in South America, and then issued again in or after 1621 with re-engraved cartouches reflecting the publisher's adoption of 'Blaeu' as a surname. After Willem Jansz. Blaeu's death in 1638, the business passed to his son Joan Blaeu (1596-1673), and in turn to his sons, who continued the business after his death until 1682, when they sold the stock and assets to Jan Jansz. van Ceulen (1635-1689). This example of the terrestrial globe can be identified as the fourth state by the new cartouche bearing van Ceulen's imprint dated 1682, and so presumably dates from the period between 1682 and circa 1700, when the printer Jacques de la Feuille re-issued the terrestrial with a new imprint label bearing his name pasted over van Ceulen's.

Pairs of Blaeu's first set of globes are rare: van der Krogt's comprehensive conspectus identifies 25 pairs in various (mainly later), states, held in private and institutional collections, although the present location of some of these is uncertain (pp. 494-496).