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Lot 26

TABLETOP GLOBE; FITZ, ELLEN ELIZA.
Fitz Globe. [Boston]: Ginn & Heath, c.1879.

22 October 2014, 13:00 EDT
New York

Sold for US$4,375 inc. premium

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TABLETOP GLOBE; FITZ, ELLEN ELIZA.

Fitz Globe. [Boston]: Ginn & Heath, c.1879.
A 6 inch (15.3 cm) in diameter, 9 inch tall tabletop globe on round cast iron base on four tiered feet, Greek key design around lower edge of stand, gold leaf design on base of stand, stand with removable vertical solar pointer, as well as a removable cast iron mounting fitted with two perpendicular vertical brass rings. 12 hand-colored engraved paper gores and 2 polar calottes over wood, signed in overlabel in North Pacific, Analemma in South Pacific, Texas depicted as a separate entity. Some general light soiling to varnish, a few repaired cracks and tears, still a very attractive and unusual globe.

THE FIRST GLOBE TO BE DESIGNED BY A WOMAN. "The special feature of Fitz's globe is the mounting. This globe can be used to illustrate the course of the sun, the length of the day and night and the length of twilight over the whole year. The globe is mounted at an angle of 66.5° on a rotatable disc, with a calendar. The sphere with the indicator shows the position of the sun, whilst the two meridians indicate the twilight zone. This mounting was designed by Ellen Eliza Fitz (b. 1836), an American governess from New Brunswick, who obtained a patent for it in 1875. The following year, she published A Handbook of the Terrestrial Globe; or, Guide to Fitz's New Method of Mounting and Operating Globes (Dekker Globes from the Western World p 129).

Footnotes

THE FIRST GLOBE TO BE DESIGNED BY A WOMAN

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