Fig. 33. Globus Mundi, 1509.
The Lenox globe[163] is often referred to as the oldest extant post-Columbian globe. It is an engraved copper ball of excellent workmanship, 127 mm. in diameter (Figs. [34], [35]), neither signed nor dated, and is without mountings. A critical study of its geographical records, particularly of the New World representations, has led to the conclusion that it was made as early as 1510. The two sections or hemispheres of which it is composed are joined at the equator. Neither parallels nor meridians are indicated, and though a striking error appears in giving to the eastern hemisphere, or the Old World, too great an extension in longitude, the principal latitudes are well given. The globe was found in the year 1850, in Paris, by Mr. Richard Hunt, by whom it was presented to Mr. James Lenox, and is now one of the choicest objects in that great collector’s library, which library constitutes an important part of the New York Public Library. In its New World representation, South America appears as a large island having three regional names, “Mundus Novus,” “Terra Sanctae Crucis,” and “Terra de Brazil.” “Isabel” (Cuba), “Spagnolla” (Haiti), and a few unnamed islands belonging to the West Indies have been outlined. In the place of North America there are scattered islands, one of which, located near the northwest extremity of “Terra de Brazil,” bears the name “Zipangri” (Japan), and one in the far north, but unnamed, clearly resembles the Cortereal region, as it appears on the Cantino and on the Canerio map. A few of the many islands in the eastern seas are designated by name as “Taprobana,” “Madagascar,” and “Seilan.”
Fig. 34. Lenox Globe, 1510.
Fig. 35. Lenox Globe in Hemispheres.