"The idea of an inexpensive, portable globe for teaching had been
suggested in the late 18th century. Richard and Maria Edgeworth, a
father-daughter pair of educationalists, asked in their 1798 publication
Practical Education: "Might not a cheap, portable, and
convenient globe be made of oiled silk, to be inflated by a common pair
of bellows?" It was another forty years, however, until such a globe was
first produced. Their request was answered in around 1830 with the
invention of the balloon globe, an object made of fabric gores stitched
together, which was inflated with an air pump. However, in 1850, John
Betts designed an attractive alternative that did not require being
inflated with a pump. Betts' "New Portable Globe", used an umbrella
mechanism to support the gores in a spherical shape." (courtesy Whipple)
Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association has a lengthy discussion of The Betts Globe below.
Rare original Terrestrial Umbrella Globe, first designed in 1850 by John
Betts and patented by him in 1856, this one made by George Philip &
Son Ltd., one of Great Britain's leading 20th century globe producers,
whom continued production after Betts' death. Housed in the original
custom-made labeled wooden case with working brass clasp and hinges.
Beautiful map of the world lithographed on eight coloured linen gores
sewn to expand and fit over a black collapsing umbrella type globe frame
with handle, brass ends and hook for suspension. Measurements:
Equatorial circumference 48 inches, diameter 15.25 inches, height 71
inches. Wood case measures 29.5 x 3.25 x 3.25 inches (LxWxH).
Cartouche Title: By The Queens Royal Letters Patent. Betts's New
Portable Terrestrial Globe. Compiled from The Latest and Best
Authorities. British Empire Coloured Red. London: George Philip &
Son Ltd, 32 Fleet Street. Liverpool: Philip, Son & Nephew Ltd. 20
Church Street. Printed in Great Britain.
John Betts, the masterful inventor of the collapsible umbrella globe,
conceived and produced an unparalleled terrestrial globe design, its
unique form and function finally providing ease of portability and
demonstration of geography - an extraordinary and historical apparatus.
A scarce acquisition in any form, this umbrella globe is in superb
original condition, linen and components completely in tact, as issued
with its original wood case labeled for the inventor. It's cartographic
elements as intriguing as its unprecedented design, several now obsolete
place names are used; colonial possessions are indicated; Antarctic
regions remain virtually uncharted.
As early as 1798, Anglo-Irishman, Richard Lovell Edgeworth (writer,
scientist, inventor and educationist), and his daughter, Maria Edgeworth
(influential novelist and educationist), first proposed the idea of a
practical and portable globe for teaching and lecturing, with a
statement published in publication Practical Education, "Might not a
cheap, portable, and convenient globe be made of oiled silk, to be
inflated by a common pair of bellows?" Some forty years later, in around
1830, their request was first answered with the invention of the
balloon globe, an object made of fabric gores stitched together, which
was inflated with an air pump.
An advantageous tool for geographers and professors alike, in 1850, John
Betts designed an attractive and superior alternative which eliminated
the air inflation
process. Betts' "New Portable Globe" comprised of a
lithographed map on linen, mounted on a pliable spherical metal frame
expanding and contracting like an umbrella. In 1856 he was granted
patent GB 1338 for "Collapsible Geographical Spheres." His invention
offered convenient portability and large size for viewing details, two
important features which sustained long term popularity. In fact, the
umbrella globes remained in demand long after the inventor's living
years. George Philip & Son, who took over Betts' firm after his
passing, continued to produce new editions into the 1920s.
Betts was conscientious in updating of his cartography, and as seen
here, included details such as principal cities and areas of unique
economic interest, tribal regions, and European colonies abroad. On this
portable globe we find little northern Canadian townsite of Dawson
City, in the center of the Klondike Gold Rush region which is also
indicated. [Dawson City was settled in 1896, founded and named in
January 1897 by Joseph Ladue, in honor of noted Canadian geologist
George M. Dawson who had explored and mapped the region in 1887.]
Some of the charting and colonial delineation shown on this map, which
serve to date its manufacture and illustrate important geographical
discoveries, are as follows:
Saint Petersburg appears as "Petrograd (Leningrad)" suggesting that the
map was produced in 1924 or 1925. [In 1914 the name of the city was
changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, and to Leningrad in 1924
after the death of Vladimir Lenin. In 1991 it would be renamed Saint
Petersburg].
Norway's capital appears as "Christiania (Oslo)," reflecting the name
change made January 1st 1925.
In French Equatorial Africa (1910-1958) we find the "French Colony of
Niger," a name which was in use from 1922 to 1958.
A term seldom seen on charts, "Union of the Cape of Good Hope",
illustrates the 1910 establishing of the Union of South Africa which was
formed from the colonies of Cape of Good Hope, Transvaal, Natal and
Orange River Colony.
Though very little of Antarctica is charted, "Oates Land" is shown,
being part of the
Antarctic coastline discovered by the Terra Nova in
February 1911. [Oates Land was named after Captain Lawrence Oates who
famously walked out of the tent on the way back from the South Pole with
Captain Scott in 1912. It is a region of the coast of Eastern
Antarctica approximately between Cape Adare in the East and Mawson's Hut
in the West.]
A vestige of colonial exploration and territorial acquisition, obsolete
place names are replete on this unusual world map, "Termination
Barrier," for example, discovered by the 1838-1842 United States
Exploring Expedition led by Charles Wilkes to the Antarctic Peninsula is
now part of the Shackleton Ice Shelf. Further shown are the colonies of
"French Cochinchina" established in 1862, British Honduras which became
a British crown colony in 1862, Formosa which is now Taiwan, and
others. Yos Sudarso Island in Papua province, Indonesia, is charted as
"Frederick Henry Island" as it was named in the Dutch colonial period.
John Betts (fl.1844-1875) was a respected mapmaker who also produced
atlases, guidebooks, educational cartographic puzzles, and the like,
from 1827 to around 1875. He first produced the umbrella globe in 1856,
having obtained a British patent (GB 1338) for "Collapsible Geographical
Spheres." He began advertising his patent portable globe shortly
thereafter. He operated at 115 Strand from 1845 to 1874. After his
death, it was reissued by geographical publishers George Philip &
Son. The latter were first established in Liverpool in 1834 and moved to
London in 1902. The firm was one of Britain's major globe producers.
George Philip & Sons was founded in 1834 in Liverpool by George
Philip (1800-1882) primarily as a publisher of maps and atlases and
celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1984. Its production of globes in
the 19th century was mainly limited to associations with other British
globe makers, including Smith & Sons, London. In 1902 Philip
ventured into globe manufacture, facilitated by the firm's establishment
of the London Geographical Institute, a large factory for map, atlas,
and globe production. Over the years, Philip has acquired the production
lines of other British globe makers including Malby, Betts, Smith and
Johnston.
Photos courtesy The Whipple and Provincial Booksellers)
conceived and produced an unparalleled terrestrial globe design, its
unique form and function finally providing ease of portability and
demonstration of geography - an extraordinary and historical apparatus.
A scarce acquisition in any form, this umbrella globe is in superb
original condition, linen and components completely in tact, as issued
with its original wood case labeled for the inventor. It's cartographic
elements as intriguing as its unprecedented design, several now obsolete
place names are used; colonial possessions are indicated; Antarctic
regions remain virtually uncharted.
As early as 1798, Anglo-Irishman, Richard Lovell Edgeworth (writer,
scientist, inventor and educationist), and his daughter, Maria Edgeworth
(influential novelist and educationist), first proposed the idea of a
practical and portable globe for teaching and lecturing, with a
statement published in publication Practical Education, "Might not a
cheap, portable, and convenient globe be made of oiled silk, to be
inflated by a common pair of bellows?" Some forty years later, in around
1830, their request was first answered with the invention of the
balloon globe, an object made of fabric gores stitched together, which
was inflated with an air pump.
An advantageous tool for geographers and professors alike, in 1850, John
Betts designed an attractive and superior alternative which eliminated
the air inflation 
process. Betts' "New Portable Globe" comprised of a
lithographed map on linen, mounted on a pliable spherical metal frame
expanding and contracting like an umbrella. In 1856 he was granted
patent GB 1338 for "Collapsible Geographical Spheres." His invention
offered convenient portability and large size for viewing details, two
important features which sustained long term popularity. In fact, the
umbrella globes remained in demand long after the inventor's living
years. George Philip & Son, who took over Betts' firm after his
passing, continued to produce new editions into the 1920s.
Betts was conscientious in updating of his cartography, and as seen
here, included details such as principal cities and areas of unique
economic interest, tribal regions, and European colonies abroad. On this
portable globe we find little northern Canadian townsite of Dawson
City, in the center of the Klondike Gold Rush region which is also
indicated. [Dawson City was settled in 1896, founded and named in
January 1897 by Joseph Ladue, in honor of noted Canadian geologist
George M. Dawson who had explored and mapped the region in 1887.]
Some of the charting and colonial delineation shown on this map, which
serve to date its manufacture and illustrate important geographical
discoveries, are as follows:
Saint Petersburg appears as "Petrograd (Leningrad)" suggesting that the
map was produced in 1924 or 1925. [In 1914 the name of the city was
changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, and to Leningrad in 1924
after the death of Vladimir Lenin. In 1991 it would be renamed Saint
Petersburg].
Norway's capital appears as "Christiania (Oslo)," reflecting the name
change made January 1st 1925.
In French Equatorial Africa (1910-1958) we find the "French Colony of
Niger," a name which was in use from 1922 to 1958.
A term seldom seen on charts, "Union of the Cape of Good Hope",
illustrates the 1910 establishing of the Union of South Africa which was
formed from the colonies of Cape of Good Hope, Transvaal, Natal and
Orange River Colony.
Though very little of Antarctica is charted, "Oates Land" is shown,
being part of the 
Antarctic coastline discovered by the Terra Nova in
February 1911. [Oates Land was named after Captain Lawrence Oates who
famously walked out of the tent on the way back from the South Pole with
Captain Scott in 1912. It is a region of the coast of Eastern
Antarctica approximately between Cape Adare in the East and Mawson's Hut
in the West.]
A vestige of colonial exploration and territorial acquisition, obsolete
place names are replete on this unusual world map, "Termination
Barrier," for example, discovered by the 1838-1842 United States
Exploring Expedition led by Charles Wilkes to the Antarctic Peninsula is
now part of the Shackleton Ice Shelf. Further shown are the colonies of
"French Cochinchina" established in 1862, British Honduras which became
a British crown colony in 1862, Formosa which is now Taiwan, and
others. Yos Sudarso Island in Papua province, Indonesia, is charted as
"Frederick Henry Island" as it was named in the Dutch colonial period.
John Betts (fl.1844-1875) was a respected mapmaker who also produced
atlases, guidebooks, educational cartographic puzzles, and the like,
from 1827 to around 1875. He first produced the umbrella globe in 1856,
having obtained a British patent (GB 1338) for "Collapsible Geographical
Spheres." He began advertising his patent portable globe shortly
thereafter. He operated at 115 Strand from 1845 to 1874. After his
death, it was reissued by geographical publishers George Philip &
Son. The latter were first established in Liverpool in 1834 and moved to
London in 1902. The firm was one of Britain's major globe producers.
George Philip & Sons was founded in 1834 in Liverpool by George
Philip (1800-1882) primarily as a publisher of maps and atlases and
celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1984. Its production of globes in
the 19th century was mainly limited to associations with other British
globe makers, including Smith & Sons, London. In 1902 Philip
ventured into globe manufacture, facilitated by the firm's establishment
of the London Geographical Institute, a large factory for map, atlas,
and globe production. Over the years, Philip has acquired the production
lines of other British globe makers including Malby, Betts, Smith and
Johnston.Photos courtesy The Whipple and Provincial Booksellers)
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