A pocket globe after Herman Moll.

Biography
Herman Moll (?1654-1732) moved to London from Germany or the Low Countries, sometime before 1678. His career in London would span some 60 years and see him move from a jobbing engraver to a successful publisher of maps and atlases. He was part of the intellectual circle that gathered at Jonathan's Coffee House, counting Robert Hooke, Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift amongst his acquaintance. Moll even provided a map for Defoe's work 'Robinson Crusoe' showing the track of Crusoe's supposed voyage, and is mentioned by Lemuel Gulliver in 'Gulliver's Travels'.

This globe was formerly attributed to George Adams Snr, on the basis that it appeared in one of his instruments. However, it also appears in the instruments of several other publishers, which makes this unlikely. His stock was bought by Thomas and John Bowles, and Robert Sayer - it is possible that the copperplates for the globe gores were perpetuated by either of these publishers.

Geography
Moll's 1710 pocket globe - the only one he ever produced - was influenced by the voyages of William Dampier, his friend and collaborator. Dampier (1651-1715), sometime pirate and explorer, was the first Englishman to explore Australia, and the first to circumnavigate the world three times. He published an account of his adventures in 'A New Voyage Around the World' in 1697. The maps in 'New Voyage' and another work, 'A Voyage to New Holland', were created by Moll. Moll's globe contained the tracks of Dampier's voyage, updated coastlines based on his discoveries, and records of trade winds after Dampier's treatise on the subject.

The present example updates Moll's original with the latest discoveries. California appears correctly as a peninsula, rather than the island originally portrayed by Moll - conflicting reports from Spanish explorers of the region had given rise to confusion as to whether it was attached to the mainland or not. California's status was confirmed after the explorations of Juan Bautista de Anza (1774-76). The tracks of Dampier's voyage have been partially erased and overlaid with the track of the first voyage of Captain James Cook (incorrectly dated "Cook's Track 1760"), and the geography of Australasia adjusted accordingly, including the labelling of Cook Strait. It also adds the label "North.n Ocean" to the North Pole, although this is a preference of the cartographer rather than any new information, as the area was still largely unexplored.

Astronomy
The ecliptic is graduated and provided with the signs of the zodiac. The polar circles and tropics are drawn but not named. A magnitude table (1-6) sits below Ursa Major. The 48 Ptolemaic constellations are marked, with four non-Ptolemaic constellations. Only five of the 12 southern Plancian constellations are named, and Scutum is not labelled among the Hevelian constellations.