Fine Furniture & Collections - 7th October 2026
Lot 189
A FINE PAIR OF WILLIAM IV TERRESTRIAL AND CELESTIAL 18 INCH LIBRARY GLOBES
Estimate £20,000 - £30,000
Inc. Buyers Premium
Description
A FINE PAIR OF WILLIAM IV TERRESTRIAL AND CELESTIAL 18 INCH LIBRARY GLOBES
BY S.S. EDKINS, DATED '1833'
each comprising of twenty-four engraved gores with and with a dedication to Sir Joseph Banks, Bar, KB, President of the Royal Society, titled 'A New British Terrestrial Globe, Outlining all the latest discoveries and communications from the most observed and authentic Observations and Surveys to the year 1833' and signed 'Manufactured & Sold...& Retail by S. S. Edkins, Son in law & Successor to the late T. M. Bardin, Salisbury Square, London' , each globe with a brass engraved meridian within a mahogany ring applied with a paper zodiac and calendar scale, supported by four curved brackets on a turned stem and tripod supports, united by a printed paper compass rose with blued steel needle and glass cover, on brass castors (2)
110cm high
Literature
See John R. Milburn and T. Rossaak, 'The Bardin Family, Globe-Makers in London and their Associate Gabriel Wright',1992.
Catalogue Note
William Bardin began manufacturing globes around 1780. His earliest globes, measuring 9 and 12 inches in diameter, were produced in collaboration with Gabriel Wright, a mathematical instrument maker who had previously worked for eighteen years in the workshop of the renowned instrument maker Benjamin Martin. In 1790, Bardin was joined by his son, Thomas Marriott Bardin (1768–1819), who had been apprenticed to him since 1783 and had recently attained his freedom of the City. The partnership subsequently traded as W. & T. M. Bardin. In 1794, the firm relocated to new premises in Salisbury Square, off Fleet Street. Following William Bardin’s death, Thomas assumed sole control of the business. After his death in 1819, the firm passed in 1820 to his daughter, Elizabeth Marriott (1799–1851). Elizabeth married in 1832, following which the business was taken over by her husband, S. S. Edkins. In 1848, their son joined the firm, which thereafter traded as S. S. Edkins & Son.