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Description

Finely engraved pair of globe gores covering North America, from an unrecorded mid-18th Century Globe.

In August 2012, we were advised of a similar set of gores at the University of Vilnius, engraved by Johann Friedrich Endersch, Royal Geographer to King Augustus III of Poland. Johann Friedrich Endersch (1705-1769) was a famous German cartographer and mathematician. Endersch was born in Dornfeld in Thuringia and had spent most of his life in Elblag in Royal Prussia, Poland. Johann Friedrich Endersch got the title of Royal Mathematician from Augustus III of Poland.

One of the more fascinating elements of this pair of gores is the references to "Anglo Dobbsio," in the upper left, in the discussion of the north polar regions. Arthur Dobbs, a wealthy North Carolina land owner and Governor (1754-65), was heavily involved in attempts to find a Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic during the 1740s. He actively worked to have the Hudson's Bay Company's trade monopoly revoked on the grounds that they showed little or no interest in promoting discovery expeditions relating to the Northwest Passage. Dobbs felt that others might finance exploration if they had some expectation of trade. From 1741 to 1747, Dobbs managed to stimulate exploration, the result of which convinced most people that such a passage did not exist. Dobbs' involvement in the Canadian Arctic exploration resulted in a substantial increase in geographical knowledge as well as increased awareness of the economic potential.

This pair of gores was acquired in a set of 8 (of 12) gores. There is no attribution and, to date, it would appar that the gores are from an unrecorded Globe, for which no known complete examples of the globe or gores survive.