The Magnificent Glass Globe

Eleven-year-old Mary Tucker dreams of visiting the Amazon. But if her father, a museum curator, has his way, she will be well into old age before she ever gets the chance. One day, while mischievously exploring the museum's warehouse with her brother Ike and best friend Helen, Mary stumbles across an old travel trunk belonging to her grandfather. Inside, they discover a nondescript glass globe. Curious about the simple object, Mary touches the globe, and is shocked when the room is suddenly consumed by the most amazing view of Earth. The magnificent globe lets the friends zoom closer and closer toward the earth's surface, eventually bringing them close enough to touch the trees. That's when the globe entirely disappears, and they find themselves falling. Suddenly, they're far from home in a place that's either paradise or the place where they will die. Sleep, water, and food become precious and scarce. A native tribe may hold the keys to their survival as well as clues to help them get back home. But it won't be easy. The rain forest is a big place, and when others find out what the globe can do, Mary, Ike and Helen will need a plan, allies, and a little luck in order to get out alive.

Advances in modern science and technology have made present-day terrestrial and celestial globes scientifically obsolete and aesthetically banal. From the Renaissance to the mid-nineteenth century, however, they were indispensable tools for the study of geography and astronomy. Beginning with an overview of early globes, the authors examine how the modern era in globe making, which began in Flemish and Dutch shops in the early seventeenth century, show how globe making spread throughout Europe, and explain how what were both decorative and scientific objects became symbols of power, universal knowledge, intellectual status, and personal vanity. Beginning with the collection's earliest globe, dated 1533, the authors introduce us to the life and works of some of the greatest Dutch, French, English, German, Italian, and Swedish globe makers. The 120 colour illustrations allow the reader to savour these rare and unusual works and include numerous detailed reproductions of both terrestrial and celestial map images. Sphæræ Mundi charts developments and changes over three centuries of globe making, considering the globes as indicators of scientific advance and geographical exploration as well as artifacts and providing a unique opportunity to become familiar with these complex and beautiful objects.

Important American periodical dating back to 1850.

The Sock Keeper